The Way Things Were: Extra Clips
by LuciferDragon
Summary: I've been requested to have the one shots for The Way Things Were in it's own story, so here it is, and I'll try my hardest to put the ones I have in chronological order. After that, I'll keep the timeline clear. These are open for requests as well. NSFW content.
1. Gifts

If you've found this story by chance, this is an additive to the story "The Way Things Were". If you've been directed here from the story, hi! I'll keep the timeline as clear as I can. I'm also open to requests for chapters/ideas.

**Approximate time: Childhood**

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><p>"Dyre, I learned a new move from Tyr. Would you like me to teach you?"<p>

She was mildly interested. "Alright." She stood and dusted off her pants, standing next to Thor as they faced the straw practice dummy.

He lunged forward and immediately ducked, landing an uppercut to the dummy's jaw. He then spun around with a roundhouse kick to the face, followed by a flurry of blows. As a finishing move he gave one swift punch to the gut. He backed off and looked to her, a grin on his young face. "Your turn."

She shrugged but a movement by the entrance of the training area distracted her. She balled her hands into fists. In an instant she was imitating Thor's blows perfectly against the dummy, all except the last. "I don't remember this one; can you show me again?"

He nodded and took her place. "It's easy. Just punch the dummy like this." He ran at the dummy, preparing to punch it.

A straw arm came to life and grabbed his hand, bringing the young prince closer. "Who are you calling 'dummy?'"

Thor let out a startled sound and swiped at the straw while Dyre rolled on the ground laughing. His brother came out of the shadows, laughing as well. Thor glared at him. "Grow up, Loki!"

"Your form was sloppy," the young boy answered, shrugging and folding his arms behind his back. "I was merely saving you from embarrassment."

Dyre sat up, wiping her eyes. "Oh he wasn't so bad. Besides, what creature would expect a sloppy form from a prince?"

Thor turned on his brother. "You skip Tyr's lessons, you don't take battle seriously, and you think having magic makes you so special." He curled his lip. "It means you are a freak." He stormed out of the arena, leaving a thick tension in the air.

Dyre looked over to Loki, seeing his mischievous grin had faded. "Loki? Are you alright?"

He gave a stiff nod. "Not like I haven't heard it before." He looked to the dummy, curling his lip at the expressionless straw. "It isn't as if I enjoy it. I hate this burden. Everyone looks at me differently for having it. Even my own father dotes upon my brother more than I." In a snap of anger he threw a ball of magic at the dummy, setting it on fire. He cast his gaze to the ground. "It makes sense. The kingdom couldn't be ruled by a freak."

She had seen his temper flare occasionally, but this took the prize for angriest. Regardless she got up and stood in front of him, taking his hands. The shock of being touched made him look at her. "I don't think you're a freak."

"You should."

"But I don't." She nodded to the burning dummy behind her. "I think you're unique, interesting. How many people can do what you do?"

"Not many."

"And how many can swing a sword?"

"Almost everyone."

"Exactly." Her smile brightened. "I'd rather have a magic user for a friend than a barbarian. At least you make things fun."

He arched a brow. "And my brother is not fun?"

"He has his moments. He can't make me laugh like you though." She pulled away from him, but he yanked her into a tight hug.

"Thank you, Dyre."

She let out a breath of a laugh and hugged him in return. "Don't hate your gift. Use it to your advantage. I would if I could use magic."

He scoffed into her shoulder. "How?"

She pulled away, mischief in her blue eyes. "First off, let's pay the cooks a visit. Then, we'll find your brother and make sure the rest of his day is horrible."

He grinned. "And this is why you're my best friend."

She bowed and grabbed his hand, leading him out of the grounds. "The day is still young. We have a lot of work to do."

"Give me ideas and I'll see to doing them."

She gave him a sly smirk as he matched her pace. She may have been friends with his brother, but Thor deserved a day of misery for his deeds. "I don't think we'll have any trouble making him regret getting out of bed today."


	2. What Happened That Night?

This is to be read as if Thor is the equivalent of sixteen, Loki is the same as fifteen, and Dyre would have just turned the equivalent of fifteen as well. I don't know what actual ages are used in the Marvel Universes, so use that as a guide for this.  
>Approximate time: Childhood, before the three are separated.<p>

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><p>Dyre sat in the stands of the training area, watching the two brothers learn their own trade. Her heart was heavy that day as she watched them. It was a ritual she had gotten used to. She would get her own lessons learned earlier, and come to the arena to watch the brothers with their lessons. Now, things were changing. Things couldn't be as they were anymore. After much persistence, her father had finally raised his voice (and his fist) to her, making it very clear that today would be the last day she could spend with the brothers. It wasn't fair in the slightest. They were her only friends and had been for such a long time. Though something else was making her more upset at the news.<p>

As the boys were growing older, so was she, and things were starting to look different when it came to them. She still enjoyed sparing with both brothers. She still loved talking strategies with Thor and playing tricks with Loki, but there was something else. She'd lose her breath from more than the fighting and the running away as to not be caught playing pranks. She'd find herself blushing at the slightest skin contact. She'd fumble over words if either one caught her off guard.

While she had similar reactions with both brothers, it was stronger with a certain trickster. She had always had more fun playing pranks and causing mischief. It was a guilty pleasure of hers. Just his smile would make her blush, and her heart would flutter any time he laughed. Thor's physique may have impressed her, but it was his brother's wit and charms that won her heart. She didn't understand the feelings she was having, and was too scared to ask her mother. She only knew that Eir had told her that when you cared for someone deeply, you felt different about them. She wasn't sure what that meant, but she was sure it was what she was feeling.

She sadly watched on as Thor trained with swords, meeting Tyr's pace easily. Loki stood off to the side, trying to manipulate water sitting in a bowl. By the look on his face, he was getting more and more frustrated with the spell. She looked on as he ran a hand through his short black spiked hair as his expression showed he was thinking of all the different ways he could learn the spell. He caught her eye and sent a small smile her way, and her stomach twisted around on itself as she smiled back.

She was more surprised when Odin entered the arena as well and sat, observing his sons. At the same moment Thor managed to disarm Tyr and have him in a submissive stance, Loki managed to summon a stream from the bowl and it flowed so beautifully, Dyre's breath hitched in her throat.

"Well done, Thor," Odin's voice boomed out from across the way as Tyr rose and bowed to his opponent. "You'll make a fine warrior one day."

Thor grinned at his father. "Just as you are, Father."

"Perhaps even better."

Loki saw an opportunity to show his father what he had just learned to do, but as he turned around to face where his father had been sitting, Odin was leaving the arena, an arm over Thor's shoulders discussing stances for war. His face visibly fell and he stopped the spell so suddenly the water fell to the dirt, staining it with the liquid.

Dyre left her seat as he sat on the lower bench, glaring at the bowl. She quietly sat beside him. "I thought your spell was beautiful."

"It doesn't matter. It isn't swordsmanship. It's a useless talent," he responded bitterly.

"That's not true." She bit her lip as he kept his gaze to the fading water stain. "Your magic is very useful."

He scoffed. "Sure it is."

"It is. Given enough refining, you could snap a person's neck with minimal effort and physical contact. You could set them on fire, you could drown them by filling their lungs with water. There is a limitless amount of things you could do on the battlefield. And what can the Thunderer do? He can slice and dice. That's it." He remained quiet and she tried again. "Loki, your magic is a gift. I meant it when we were younger, and I mean it now. Don't scorn it." This wasn't how she wanted their last day to be. Not that he knew it was to be their last day.

"You seem to be the only one to view it as a gift. You and my mother. Everyone else sees it as a curse. It's a virus that only a select few have. Those of us with it… we're not welcome."

She knew what he really meant. There was no mistaking what she had seen in his expression when Odin left with Thor and Tyr. "Just because your father does not dote upon you as your elder brother, it does not mean he loves you any less." She took a silent, deep breath, calming herself. "Even if he did, you still have those of us who care."

He looked to her then, catching her gaze with his pale green eyes. She desperately fought the urge to look away. "You looked so sad before. What's wrong?"

He was trying to get her off the topic of himself. She did look away then, rubbing at her arms. She winced as she touched the still tender flesh of her bicep. "Something happened at home."

He immediately took her hand in his to outstretch her arm and rolled up her sleeve where he had noticed her flinch. His eyes narrowed when he started to uncover the nasty bruise left by her father. "So help me, I'll kill him if you want me to."

"He is still my father, Loki." She took her arm back, letting the sleeve of her dress fall back in place. She had to try a few times to form the rest of her words. "I-I can't see you anymore. Thor either. Father says I am too old to be running with boys. I should—" She swallowed and closed her eyes, hating how a tear escaped. "I should be learning my trade. I shouldn't be spending any more time with two princes. That I'm—I'm not worth the time. I'm a medicine woman. Not a princess. Not anyone worthy of being in your company any longer."

His scoff made her open her eyes again. "And you believe him?"

"I don't. You've shown me since we were children I'm worthy to be your friend. I just can't argue my father's commands." She took another deep breath. "So, I want to spend my last day with you."

"What about my brother?"

"I won't miss him as much as I'll miss you."

A grin emerged on his face. "Well then Miss Andrendotter, I shall escort you through the best day of pranks and mischief I can conjure."

She pushed at his arm playfully. "Oh, you know I hate my last name!"

"Oh I know alright. Which makes me want to say it more. Andrendotter, Andrendotter, Andrendotter!"

She laughed and pushed him again, this time almost sending him off the bench. "Stop being a jackass, Odinson!"

"Oh it's to be like that, is it Andrendotter?"

"I don't know, is it Odinson?" She met his playful grin.

He held out his hand. "Fine then. Truce. I won't ever bring up your last name again. Maybe one day you'll get a better one like mine."

She took his hand and shook it. "I'll hold you to that." She held up a finger. "Remember I'm studying the fine details of the body. I can cause pain just as much as I can heal."

He flinched. "Fine, I mean it. Never again."

"Promise it, Loki. Swear it or I will never forgive you."

"I promise I won't."

Usually his promises meant nothing. But for her, he at least meant them. He valued their friendship too much. She was his best and only friend. The only one he could turn to when things like this happened. He thought himself too old to run to his mother for comfort, for someone to tell him he was worth something. He could always turn to Dyre for that. And she usually showed it by running amok with him and causing havoc wherever they could. His heart fell as they let go, realizing he may never see her again after that day.

He would just have to use all his tricks and give her the best day he could.

* * *

><p>He did just that with flying colors. They spent hours slinking through the commons, messing with the vendor stands. They stole food while the vendors were distracted, and he even stole a rare fruit just for her. Once night began to set, they returned to the palace and played pranks on the guards. He made shadows appear on the walls, making it seem like something was slinking around. When the guards went to look, nothing was there, of course. In the end he ended up making the guards so spooked they left their post, muttering something about needing a stiff drink or two.<p>

In the final hours of the night that she was allowed out, he took her to the private gardens, sitting in the grass that gave a spectacular viewing sight for the whole of Asgard. "I hope today has been satisfactory."

"More than that. It's a memory I'll cherish forever. I still can't believe you made those two vendors fight when one thought the other stole his wares. Naughty boy."

He winked. "If only you knew." His nerves seized as she leaned on his arm, keeping her gaze on the city. His heart hammered against his ribs, and he prayed she couldn't hear or feel it. He had been attracted to her for some time, and never had a chance to do anything about it. He had been too scared she'd reject him, and that he'd have to live knowing he had made a move on his only friend and she had turned him down flat. Now with the situation presented to them, he had a bit more courage. "Is this really the last time I'll ever see you?"

He felt her nod on his shoulder. "Unfortunately yes. There's nothing I can do to tell him otherwise."

Her scent filled his nose, one of a native flower found only in Asgard. The weight of her on his arm, the scent, just her presence was leaving his throat dry, making his nerves mount in his chest. "I need to tell you something."

She glanced at him. "What's wrong?"

He took a steadying breath, gathering his thoughts. "I feel strange when I'm around you, Dyre. I can't explain it."

For a moment he thought he could see relief flash across her eyes. "I feel the same. My mother says that when you care for someone deeply, you feel differently about them."

"If that is the case, I care for you, a lot. I don't want you to vanish from my life."

"My father demands it. He says I'm too old to run wild with boys."

"If there is no avoiding it, I want to do something…" She glanced at him, her blue eyes full of questions. To Hel if she rejected him. "Dyre, would it be wrong if I asked to kiss you?"

She seemed thrown off for a moment. "I… I don't know."

In that moment, his heart fell. He saw thoughts pass behind her gaze and wondered just how she was going to tell him that she didn't want to ruin their friendship like that.

"I want you to."

Those four words were a trigger for him. He swallowed. He couldn't remember a time where he was more nervous. He hesitantly closed the space between them, feeling the soft lips he had been admiring for so long on his. The moment they touched, a spark shot through his body, and he pulled back to gauge her reaction.

By her gaze she had felt it too. "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing at all." He had to repress a shiver that went down his spine as he noticed she was blushing.

"Can you do it again?"

He didn't need to be asked twice. He nodded and took her lips again, this time kissing through the shock. Her lips were the sweetest thing he had ever tasted, and couldn't get enough of them. He could taste the rare fruit from before, making another shock course through his body, straight down between his legs. He knew what it was used for, he wasn't stupid. He just wasn't ready for something like that. It didn't stop his body from reacting to the kiss. He lightly pushed at her shoulder, laying over her as she flattened out in the grass. His knee laid between her legs, and he accidentally pushed against her. He wasn't expecting her to moan into his lips. The shock returned, making him harder for her. He pulled back, giving them a chance to breathe. "This may seem odd, but I want you to touch me."

She didn't seem to know what he meant. She reached under his shirt, running her fingers over his growing slender muscles.

While the shiver did return, it only made him painfully hard. "Not—not there. Lower."

She bit her lip. "I couldn't—"

He was getting desperate by now. "Please, Dyre." He had never asked her for anything in such a manner. He had never begged anyone for anything. It felt as if she didn't touch him, he would lose his mind. She tentatively trailed her fingers lower, over the edge of his slacks, over his erection. Instantly he hissed and jerked against her touch and his hips pressed against her hand out of his control. He didn't give her a chance to do anything more before he resumed their kiss.

His mind went white for a moment as she squeezed him. He couldn't stop the moan that escaped him. He didn't want to. She shifted her lips open for him and he slipped his tongue in her mouth, fighting hers for dominance. He pressed his knee into her again, loving the whimper she gave. He did it again and she responded with another firm squeeze. He all but lost it as she sucked on his tongue for a moment before starting the dance again.

He pulled back just a bit to bite her lower lip, increasing the erotic noises she was emitting. Everything felt right as he braved traveling lower to kiss her neck, all the while pressing his knee against her center. Her weight under him, her scent, her taste, and powers above, the sounds he was causing her to make. He hissed against her throat as she continued to stroke him through his slacks, bringing him close to a release he had only given himself up until that point.

Her whimpers were growing into mewls of pleasure, immediately bringing his release right under the surface. With a breathless groan he climaxed. It felt so good he inadvertently increased his pace pressing against her, and just noticed she was rubbing against him just as much. Her head tilted back for a second and her arms wrapped around his neck, making him kiss her again. Her hips twitched against his leg and she held on tight as she cried out for him against his lips. When she nudged his shoulder he stopped everything and pulled away. He looked at her flushed cheeks as she tried to catch her breath, and noticed the slight shine in her eyes. Before he could stop it, the words flew past his filter. "Dyre, I think I love you."

She immediately pushed on his shoulders, making him get off her so she could stand and straighten her dress. "You're only saying that because I kissed you and… you know."

He shook his head and stood with her, ignoring his now damp leathers. "No, it isn't that. I feel more than a deep feeling of caring about you. Anything more that that has to be love."

She tried to say something but turned her back to him. Her voice came out quiet. "Loki, you can't love me. It… It will only make this harder. Please don't do that to us."

He stood by her, making her look at him. "Why can't I love you?"

"It will only make this harder, knowing I can't have you."

"But you can."

She shook her head, freeing herself of his light hold. "You're a prince, Loki. I can't."

"You can if I say you can."

Despite the situation she let out a breath of a laugh. "It doesn't work like that." She took his hands in hers, meeting his eyes. "I love you as well, but it can never be." She gestured to the palace. "This is your life." She nodded to the commons. "That is mine. You are meant to be with someone of royal blood. Not a common medicine woman. Your place is by your family's side, ruling over this land. Mine is to only heal." She tried swallowing past a lump in her throat, and gave up restraining her tears. "Just forget about me. Please." She leaned up and kissed his cheek. "Goodbye, my prince."

He watched her leave, feeling helpless. It was such a stupid situation. He had just gotten over his trepidation of wanting to be more than friends, and she was torn from his life. He couldn't let it end like that. He left the gardens, about to turn in the direction of the front gate, when a strong hand took his upper arm and led him in the opposite direction.

"You are such a fool," his brother hissed. "What were you thinking?"

It was then he realized his sibling had seen everything. He knew everything. "Brother, I have never asked you for anything before. Please, don't let her get away."

"Listen to yourself. It is one thing for her to be our friend, it is entirely different for her to be anything more." Thor looked down the corridor as his brother's struggles died down. "I love the girl as well, but nothing could come from your budding relationship. Let her go. Her father wishes her to stay at home and learn her trade. Would you really defy his orders in his own home, of his own daughter?"

He fell silent, knowing his brother's words held truth. He knew nothing could come of it. When Thor finally let him go, he turned to his rooms.

"What will you do, Loki?"

He stopped in his tracks and looked to Thor. "The only thing I can do. Let her go."


	3. Focus

Approximate time: Two days after chapter 13

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><p>"No, Woman. Focus."<p>

"I'm trying!" Dyre took a deep breath to regain her focus, pooling her magic into her open palm. Just as she let out a laugh of surprise the magic sputtered and faded away.

"You're distracted."

She glared at her hand, listening to the surf. "I'll get over it."

Loki clicked his tongue and stood form his chair on the porch and moved behind her. "What has your attention?"

"It does not matter."

He shrugged. "If you say so." He took her hand and pointed to a crease near the center. "Focus on here." He let her hand go and watched carefully as she concentrated and brought her magic to her palm again. The dark sphere let off a few separate licks of magic, but it stayed in place until she dismissed it.

She let out a breath of a laugh. "I did it!"

"Congratulations. One spell down, hundreds more to go."

Her happiness was cut short as she groaned and leaned her head back to look at him. "Alright, what's next?"

He found himself distracted by her exposed throat. "No more magic for now. We'll spar."

"Fine."

He watched her stand, tugging the shorts down her legs to put them in place. She wasn't bad in hand-to-hand combat. On the contrary, she was surprisingly nimble and while her blows did not hurt on their own, when she mastered her magic it would do more than tickle.

She had been distracted upon his return from Asgard, most likely due to their… relationship. The plan had only been to take her purity, as a friend, and then return to a normal friendship. He would stand aside as she found men to see, and she would stand aside as he took a random woman to his bed occasionally and send her away. The sudden twist to his plan wasn't expected, forcing him to be confined with her, discovering she had accesses to the recessive magic genes.

He had planned on remaining friends with her. He had known her almost all his life, so he found no point in turning her away. However, he found himself wanting her in his bed again. It could have been due to any number of things, but it didn't stop him from thinking it. From her distracted attitude, he could tell she thought of it as well.

"I thought we were sparring?"

He had to be sure of what her distraction was. Without looking at her he pulled his black tank off, tossing it over the chair she had been sitting in. "No magic, no weapons, no fighting dirty." He glanced at her, seeing her look away. He couldn't stop his sly grin. "Is something wrong?"

She shook her head and looked back to him. "Nothing at all." She held her ground as he stood in front of her in the sand. "Are there any other rules?"

"Physical contact is encouraged." He took a defensive stance while she took an offensive. "You can't hurt me yet anyway."

She narrowed her eyes but darted forward, delivering calculated blows that he easily knocked away.

He found himself distracted again. Had this never happened, had her father not been killed, and had the elf never appeared, he never would have thought to keep her in his bed. An occasional release would have been in order, but it would have never been consecutively. His encounters in the past never lasted more than a night, besides the woman that delivered Hela into the world. All of those had been secret drunken encounters that not many knew about. After Sleipner, he swore off taverns for good. And gender swapping spells.

The woman before him was different. She was the only one he had known all his life, one of the only people to want to spend time with him. She had been his first crush, his first kiss, and he had been hers. He was also the first one she had experienced an orgasm with. He supposed that was why it was hard to turn her away. Even after their first night together he kept her there, and wanted to go again in the morning.

He didn't love her, he knew that. He didn't feel the need to sweep her off her feet, to proclaim anything for her, and certainly felt no desire to eventually ask for her hand. He did, however, feel the need to mark her, claim her as his, to make her writhe and scream in pleasure beneath him. He wanted her to submit to his desires. He wanted it to be like it was, laughing and jesting and making lives miserable. To just spend time with someone who accepted what he did with his life, and even encouraged it.

He'd been pleased with her choice of magic use. While she wanted to use it to help in her medical arts, she mainly wanted to help him cause trouble. Given how she was when they were children, it had been expected. What wasn't expected was her parrying his guard and delivering a particularly sharp punch to his jaw, splitting his lip. "Fuck, Dyre!" His hand automatically rested against his bleeding lip.

She dropped her stance immediately, putting her hands over her mouth in horror. "Loki, I'm so sorry." She tentatively reached up and pulled his hand from his lip, laying a finger of her own over the injury. With a focus of will she sealed it up, leaving nothing but the blood as evidence.

She expected him to be angry with her. Instead, he shocked her by letting out a short chuckle. "I take back what I said about not being able to hurt me." He touched his lip, still feeling a lingering stinging sensation. "I don't remember ever teaching you that one."

She looked relieved. "Thor did."

"You sparred with Thor and he didn't tackle you to the ground and put you in a hold?" Despite his teasing words, he felt a sickening feeling in his gut at the mere thought of her under his brother in any way.

"Once or twice, but I bit him to remind him I still was a girl." She shrugged and stepped away, clasping her hands behind her back. "That's why I liked spending time with you. You never forced me to the ground." She pulled a thoughtful look. "Not yet, anyway."

He held up a finger. "I held you to the wall of the shower."

"True."

A grin accompanied his teasing finger. "Am I to believe you want me to bed you again?"

She seemed to realize what she said and quickly turned her attention to the sea. "The tide is coming in."

"So it is." Without warning he put a hand to her back and tipped her into his arms, making her squeal. He made his approach to the ocean. "I think you need to cool down a little."

She held tight onto his neck as waves began to lap up to his ankles quickly. "Loki, don't you dare—!"

"Dare what? I wouldn't dare do anything to my— oops!" With a grin he turned his back to a large wave that splattered both of them, loving her playful shriek and laugh.

"I don't need cooling off!" She curled tighter to his chest as a higher wave soaked the rest of her and she gave up fighting. She clenched her teeth in a playful grin, hissing out, "You're an ass."

"And yet you're still friends with me. What is the secret behind that?"

"You two always seemed to be trying to impress me." She shook her head. "I always thought you were stupid little boys."

He gave a mischievous growl. "I'm not so little anymore."

She arched her brow and tilted her head. "I've noticed. You're at least a head taller than me, you weed." Her eyes went wide and she shrieked as a wave licked over her back, making her press against his chest again. "Seriously, let me go, you prat!"

He shrugged and rolled his eyes. "Fine." With a slight jerk he tossed her into the ocean, listening to her shriek cut short as she fell under the surface.

She came back up, flipping her hair behind her, riding out another wave. "You're a smart ass as well as a regular ass!"

"It's better to be smart than dumb."

She stood on the sand and made her way back to shore. "At least I'm not a stupid boy!"

He laughed and followed her. "I'm a boy now?"

She stopped and looked back at him, seeing his boyish smile. She smirked and pushed on his face, sending him back into the water. "As mischievous as always."

He stood back up. "You haven't seen anything yet, love."

With a yelp she fought against the water until she was free from its grasp, rushing on to the shore. However, she forgot about his phase shifting abilities. She laughed as he caught her around the middle and pinned her down in the sand, trapping all the water from the ocean on to their clothes.

"What do you have to say for yourself now?"

"That you're still an idiot!" She giggled and twitched as he ran a hand over her skin lightly where her camisole had slipped up her chest. "Stop! Loki, that's not fair!"

He pinned her legs down as well and grinned. He finally let up, allowing her to catch her breath. It was then his mirth faded. He realized how close they were, how flushed her cheeks were as she fought to regulate her heart rate. The droplets of water were reflecting the sunlight of the early afternoon. He cleared his throat and got up. "We should probably eat something."

She almost looked disappointed as she sat up, not bothering to pull her wet green camisole down. "Um, yeah. We should." She shifted to her feet, wiping the sand off her hands. "I'll reheat something. Can you find something to keep us entertained?"

He nodded. "I can do that."

Without a word she turned her back to him and entered the house at a quicker pace than normal.

* * *

><p>The empty plates sat on the glass table in the living room as candles burned in the background. The final scene of a movie played on the TV attached to the wall, and the two of them worked on their third glass of wine. They sat fairly close on the couch, making fun of the movie. "Who are these Midgardians trying to fool?" Dyre said, feeling tipsy from her wine. "What woman in her right mind would chase a man?"<p>

"If he's worth the chase, why not?" he responded with a shrug as they snorted at the roommate's unfortunate blow job incident. "Some may be strange enough to follow through."

She shifted to lay on his chest and he raised his arm to allow her to do so. She sighed against the fabric of his shirt. "Possibly. I couldn't though." She shrugged. "Something like love shouldn't make you crazy like that overnight. Meet a guy a few times, and then he's gone. It wasn't meant to be."

"What if he was? Besides, it wouldn't take a long time to decide if you are interested in learning more about a person."

She pulled a look of thought. "I think I'd prefer history. Taking it slow. If it happens, it happens. Have fun in the process."

He chuckled and took her empty glass, placing it on the table with his. "Is that right?" He ran a hand up her thigh. "What sort of fun?"

She gave a purr of a laugh and ran her bare leg over his clothed one. "Can think of something. I was good with my lessons today."

"Mm, you were a very good girl today." He grinned. "I believe we can think of something." She gave a slight squeal as he knelt over her on the couch, flattening her to her back. "Good girls deserve a reward."

She bit her lip, making him hold back a moan at the sight. His hands ran up her belly, underneath the loose camisole she had wiped off earlier. Her breath hitched in her throat as he slipped his fingers over her skin, trailing over her nipples. She sat up slightly and he helped her out of the shirt, tossing it over his shoulder without a second thought. She took his lips in a frantic kiss and he responded in kind, laying her back on the couch again. He trailed his tongue down to lavish the tops of her breasts, making her arch slightly.

He still needed to learn her body, to learn what made her squirm. He felt her legs wrap around his hips and he drove them against her center, making her gasp at the friction. "Where do you want me to touch you?"

She trailed her fingers up his arm. "You're the expert. You tell me."

His hand traced patterns into her skin as he shifted her leg more securely around his hip. "Not that easy, Dyre." He leaned over, his breath tickling her ear. "Where—" he rolled his hips forward again, "—do you want me—" he did it again, making her sigh into his neck, "—to touch you?""

"T-there."

"Where?" He pulled her earlobe between his teeth and bit gently. "Here?"

"Don't be horrid."

He chuckled into her skin and pressed his lips to her throat. "What about here?" He laughed harder against her frustrated growl. "Or even here?" He traced the contours of her breasts.

"You're enjoying this." She held back a moan as he rolled his hips into her again. Her head fell back as he continued to tease her skin, growing more and more frustrated as he went. She squeaked as he straightened her legs against his chest and deftly unbuttoned her shorts, yanking them and her panties off her hips. With her legs still in place he pressed his lips to the skin, grinning as he caught her eye. "You're being insufferable," she groaned.

He watched her in fascination as she fought with herself. "Come now, you can't be vulgar?" He put her legs around his hips again and leaned over to her throat. "You can't tell me to make your pussy tremble?" He licked the ribbed outlines of her trachea. "To make your clit want more?" She groaned in irritation. "Be a good girl and tell me what you want."

She fought against what was left of her filter. "Make my pussy drip."

Excitement rushed up his spine as he did just that, circling his fingers around her slit, just barely touching the more sensitive flesh. He could smell the arousal in the air from both of them. Just when she couldn't take it any longer his fingertips circled her clit and she arched her back against him, pressing her lips together as she fought off her release.

She was fighting a losing battle, made even harder as he played with her breasts with his other hand, stroking her sensitive nipples with precision. Her breaths came out shorter, her cries more pronounced. She reached up and ran her fingers through his hair, holding the locks between her fingers as she kissed him, instantly feeling his tongue dancing with hers. Her body started to twitch out of her control. Without a warning her coil snapped and she bucked out of the way of his fingers, mewling against his lips.

As she tried to regulate her breathing he leaned back on his heels and unfastened his pants, wincing as he freed himself from clothes that seemed to have shrunk. "I think my good girl deserves another reward for doing well." He stroked himself to keep him firm as she glanced at him in post-orgasmic lust. "On your knees, my pet." He groaned and tightened his grip as she rolled over on the couch, rising up on her knees and palms. He rubbed around her slit, teasing himself with her warm passage. "Up a bit. That's it, love." He pushed against her entrance, needing to take it slow still. He'd only taken her twice before, and twice was all the experience she had. She was just as tight as the first night, made even tighter by how she was kneeling.

She took him by surprise as she leaned back to meet his strokes, giving a loud moan each time he would slip further inside. He wondered if she would continue to surprise him. The first time had been long ago, when she had accepted his advances and they shared their first kiss. When he first took her, again he had been amazed she had accepted his teasing words as truth. She had been caught watching human porn and then used one of the lines to get him to fuck her in the shower. She wanted to continue using her magic for mischief. She had busted his lip. She had been just vulgar enough to make his cock quiver. And, he realized as a moan passed through his clenched teeth, she would make him come. He leaned back and pulled his tank off again, throwing it without bothering to remember the direction, not slowing his pace for a second.

He gripped her hair and tilted her head back, exposing her throat, making her moan louder. He felt her tighten around him and he leaned over, pressing his chest to her back. The contact of her skin made him light-headed as he pressed his lips to her shoulder blade and held her close to his chest. He was getting close, but he wasn't ready to let the game end too soon. He wanted to know just how far she would step into the shadows with him. "Do you know how good you feel, pet?"

"Mm, how-how good?"

"You fit around me so perfectly." He purred as she tightened again. "Who would've thought a virgin medicine woman would be such a good fuck?"

She let out a defiant laugh around her moans. "Who would've thought a quiet prince would be such a dominant man? Do- do you have something to prove?"

He bit into her skin, making her cry out in pleasure. "I'm claiming what is mine." He tilted her chin up, dropping his voice to a low, breathy rumble as he pressed against her ear. "You will submit to me when I wish you to. You will obey my every command." He bit her earlobe before hovering by it. "You will call me your master when we are doing your lessons and when I fuck you." He leaned back on his ankles again, pulling her with him to make her kneel over his lap. His head swam at the different position, and he could see her body in full. The position was a little more difficult and straining. He pressed his finger to her clit, pushing it against his thrusting pace. "Is that understood, my wildcat?"

She covered his hand with hers, urging him on. "I understand."

He lifted her hips high enough so he slipped out of her warm sheath, listening to her whimper. "You understand, what?"

"I understand, my master."

He let out a sharp chuckle as he forced her hips on to him again. He hissed as she moaned and arched back against him. "That's better." He shifted all the way to his back, moving his legs for better leverage. "You'll have to work for your last reward. Ride your master. Show me you want this." He groaned as she did just that, leaning back and holding herself up with her arms. He gripped on to her hips while she rocked on him. He slipped his fingers back down to her clit, feeling her walls tighten again. "Mm, yes. Just like that."

She let out a breathy laugh as her pace slowed down. "Are we really doing this?"

He grinned below her. "Having regrets? It's a little late for that, love." He gave her a particularly hard stroke. "The damage is already done."

"No, mm. Are we really still—" She cried out as he drove her over the edge again, "—Still having sex? I thought it was a onetime thing? Twice, ah, twice counting the shower." She moved her hand to encircle the base of him between her thumb and index finger. "I wasn't aware you took women to bed more than once."

He quickened the strokes of both his hips and fingers at the increase in pressure. "T-things change. I've also never fucked my best friend."

She purred and arched her back. "Am I really?"

He bit his nails into the skin of her hips and chuckled. "Don't push your luck." He could feel her quiver. "I take it my wildcat is getting close…"

She tensed up for a moment, a strangled cry rising from her throat. "I am."

"Scream for me, Dyre."

She began to fidget against his strokes, her cries almost whimpers at how good he felt inside her. Knowing he was the cause of her pleasure went to his head. She tilted her head back. "Powers above, don't stop, Master."

"I don't plan on it." He relished her quick high pitched moans and pressed on as she squeezed him tightly in her climax. "Fuck, Dyre…" Her cries were like a sweet tune to his ears, forcing a ripple of excitement to tear down his spine. As soon as her body was spent he paused his strokes, letting her catch her breath. "Lay on your back."

Almost in a daze she did as she was told. He gave her only a moment to take his pants off completely before he was on her again, bracing one leg on the floor as he slipped inside her again. "I see someone still hasn't come."

He chuckled. "I've been holding back. You had yours, now I want mine." He held on to her hips and slammed in to her as fast as he could, seeking only his release. At her escalating moans and sighs, she was ready to come again. It didn't take much time before he reached his limits. "That's it, love. Almost there." With a few more rough thrusts he pulled out and finished off on her stomach, both of them struggling to catch their breaths.

She tentatively reached up and touched his face. "So can I call you Loki again?"

He let out a breath of a laugh. "You always could. I just love hearing you submit to me."

She shook her head but smiled all the same. "You're lucky I have a fascination with being dominated. But I mean can you be my friend again?"

He frowned and looked down at her. "When you're not naked. You're a bit of a distraction right now to just look at you as a friend." He got up and left her on the couch to fetch a spare towel from the hall closet, finding his legs had a slight tingle to them. He hadn't felt that before, not that he could remember. Many of the other times he had been so drunk he couldn't remember many of the past encounters. He came back with a cloth and saw her still sprawled out on the couch. He leaned against the archway that led to the bedroom hallway and tossed her the cloth from there. "I believe that is a proper rewards system."

She nodded. "I suppose it will suffice."

He arched a brow at her sly grin. "Suffice? I could take away your ability to walk if I truly desired it."

"Oh I'm sure you could," she said, her voice teasing. Her grin dropped as she looked away from his gaze. "What do we do now? Do we keep doing this?"

"If you want to. I won't force you to do anything you don't want. Even if I'm being playful." He reentered the room and sat on the couch next to her. "Since it helps with your focus, it shall continue to be a reward for doing well in your lessons. And it shall be a much needed release for both of us. Before you, it'd been some time for me as well." He leaned back in a corner of the couch. "Only if you want it."

She bit her lip and nodded.

"Well then." He held up his arm, letting her slip between him and the back of the couch, wrapping her leg around his. "I will take the deal. You've been keeping me surprised. I hope to keep seeing changes in you that will keep me on my defensive."

"Of course."

"We have a bargain. Sex for the rest of the time we're here."

She nodded again. "And then we resume being only friends when we return to Asgard."

"So long as you follow through with your lessons and help me terrorize the city."

Dyre gave him a sly grin. "When do we start?"


	4. Caught

Approximate time: Two and a half months before chapter 17 and "Thor"

* * *

><p>Peace and quiet was all she expected on her day off. She had planned to sleep in, relax, maybe get farther in a book she had been wanting to read. All of it would have been done in her own time, at her own pace.<p>

However, plans never run smoothly when you want them to.

She woke with a start as a heavy weight jumped onto her bed and began panting in her face. She scrunched her nose and sat up with a start, a strap of her nightdress falling off her shoulder. "Markku, how on Asgard—"

"He came to the wrong room again."

She looked up from scratching the brown mutt of a dog, seeing a perturbed Loki standing in her doorway, only dressed in a pair of loose slacks. She bit her lip, failing at hiding her smile. "I'm sorry. He must've smelled me there. Not sure why he's wandering away from the other dogs though."

"Probably missed you. Tyr's training is hard enough on people, I can't imagine the horrors the dogs go through." He crossed his arms as she got out of bed, watching the short nightdress fall from her hips back into place. "I'll be leaving today, if you'll recall."

She paused by her wardrobe, a thoughtful frown forming. "Ah, yes, the hunt. Thor's been keeping busy lately. I can't blame him. Your father is running him ragged with preparing him for his coronation."

"I'm aware. He doesn't seem to be retaining anything." He entered her room fully and closed the door behind him. "He is still as arrogant of an ass as he ever was."

"I don't think much will change that, unfortunately." She took a black dress from her wardrobe and closed it with magic as she stepped out of the night dress. "We can only hope that he will start thinking five steps ahead instead of barely one in the near future."

He was impressed with his own restraint on not moving from his spot while she dressed for the day. "He is not ready. I fear he never will be."

"Try speaking with him while you are away," she suggested, entering her washroom to find her brush. "Gauge his reaction to what he believes ruling to really be."

"And if the answer is less than satisfactory?"

She turned while ridding her hair of knots, surprised to see him in his full armor and leathers. "Try and push him in the right direction. You're his brother; he should listen to you."

He gave a hum of amusement, a small smile on his face. "You would think that." The smile faded. "Do not forget, I am the younger sibling who must remember his place as prince."

She flinched slightly and placed her brush down. "Status shouldn't matter within a family. You are brothers, not rivals." She reached up and fixed a few strands of his hair that had fallen. She froze as he caught her wrist and kept her hand to his face. "Just speak with him. What is the worst that could happen?"

He let go of her wrist, but she kept her hand in place. "Much. Do not forget how hotheaded he can be." He chanced a glance to her. "Thank you for understanding."

She smiled and took her hand back. "Friends are always there for each other."She gave a shrug as she passed by him to find her heels. "Besides, it would do no good to either party for you to be upset with him. It would make your stress worse than I could possibly fix."

He frowned as he saw her continue to dress. "I thought you were free today."

"I am, but I can't very well run half naked in that nightdress to steal food from the kitchens. It isn't proper."

He arched a brow. "You seem to enjoy doing many things that aren't proper."

She threw one of her smaller pillows at him. "Are you calling yourself improper?"

He dodged the rogue pillow and advanced on her, catching her about the waist as she tried to escape. "I am very improper. I am chaos, after all."

"You may be to other people," she smirked and turned in his grip to tap his nose, "but to me, you're still Little Loki."

He stood stunned for a moment before he started laughing, his grip slackening. "I was in the past. Not anymore."

She shrugged, her smile still present. "Physically you aren't." She nodded to his stature, where she only came up to his shoulders. "Mentally, you're still the same conniving man I used to know as a child."

"I have to be if I want to be sneaky." He watched her pull her hair into a half ponytail. "Speaking of sneaky, come to breakfast with me instead of stealing scraps from the kitchen."

She arched a brow as she tied off the band. "Volstagg would have eaten everything by now."

"Wouldn't hurt to check. Besides, you belong at the tables with us for everything, not just dinner."

She scoffed. "On what grounds?"

"Besides the fact you work for the family in a non-slave position, you're my friend and Thor's. The Warriors eat with us."

"The Warriors also hunt for your people," she added. "I heal them. That's it."

"Don't sell yourself short." He paused as she knelt down to stroke the dog. "If it weren't for the combined talents of you and your mother, many of the hunters would have died by now. If anyone deserves a permanent place at the tables, it is your family." He knelt beside her. "Come with me."

She let a breath of a laugh escape her nose as she smiled. "Persistent, aren't you?"

"You know for a fact I am."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine. Only because I'm ravenous." She stood with him. "Lead the way."

* * *

><p>To her amazement, the Warriors had not even made it to the dining hall yet. "Seems it's earlier than I thought," she mused, watching the servants lay out the food. Her face fell as she looked ahead, seeing his father still at the high table with Frigga. "I can't—"<p>

"You can and will," he muttered, leading her forward. "Good morning, Father," he said, announcing their presence. Odin looked up from his conversation with Frigga as his youngest son approached him.

"I was beginning to wonder if we would be dining alone before you and the others left," Odin said, though Dyre barely heard him.

She was having trouble looking Odin in the eye, and she could have sworn Frigga was looking at her with judgment in her eyes. If she was, Dyre felt it would have been deserved. The only thoughts that ran through her head as they sat down were, _"Good morning, sir. Lovely day, isn't it? By the way, I am indeed fucking your son."_

As if sensing her tension, she felt a leg press gently against hers in an attempt to calm her down.

"The target is a boar this time, if I'm not mistaken?" Odin asked, setting his silverware down on his empty plate. A servant immediately came by to take it away.

"So far as I know, yes. Hogun said a pack of them wandered by yesterday, so that would be the assumed quarry."

Dyre thanked a servant that filled her glass, her voice coming out meek and completely unlike her.

"Miss Dyre, surely you are not accompanying them?" Frigga asked, sipping from her own glass.

She almost jumped at being addressed. "No, ma'am. I, uh—"

"Her dog managed to slip into my room this morning. I had to redirect him to the proper location." Under the cloth of the table he slipped his hand over her leg. "I thought no harm would come to bringing her to breakfast. After all, she has done much with her magic for the palace."

"Yes, a good use for it indeed." Odin studied her closely with his remaining eye. "How have you adjusted to living in the palace, Dyre?"

"It's been a big change, but it's been liberating. Especially to have my own quarters, away from my mother. I love the woman, but there is only so much one can take of their maker." Her eyes widened and she averted her gaze. "Forgive me. I do not mean to speak ill of my mother."

Odin chuckled and stood. "There is nothing to forgive. That small shack of a home would have driven anyone mad. I am glad you have adjusted well, and I hope you will continue to use your magic for the good of the people."

She nodded. "Yes, sir. Of course."

"If I do not see you before your hunt, I wish you luck." He clapped his son on the shoulder before he left the dining hall, his wife in tow.

Dyre let out a breath she hadn't even realized she held. "If I never have to do that again it will be too soon."

"It's not like he knows anything." He accepted tea from one of the servants. "You don't need to worry. Even if he did, it is only a stress relief, remember?"

She was surprised to feel a little hurt by his statement, however true it was. It wasn't as if they felt nothing at all for each other. They still remained close through it all. She, however, had fallen a little farther than she would have ever admitted to him. She didn't want it to happen, didn't expect it to, it just did. One night they were letting off pent up lust, and the next thing she knew she was biting back a deeper emotion. She distracted herself as food was brought out for them and the others entered the dining hall as well.

"Damn. Grab what you can before Volstagg takes it. I'd rather no one starve," he muttered.

"I actually have a better idea for the glutton."

He frowned. "Remember I have to deal with them for the next few days."

She cracked a grin. "That's the idea."

Thor gave off his usual thunderous laugh, his arms outspread. "Dyre, my friend, it seems like ages since I've seen you. What has been eating your time? It would be nice to see you more often."

She gave a weak smile as the thunder god took the seat beside her. "The magic has helped tremendously in the healing arts, but it still takes up a good portion of my time. So many of the harvesters manage to snag their scythes in their legs. It's a gory process."

Fandral frowned. "Surely you're not spending all your time in that healing room. There must be other things you partake in."

She bit back a sarcastic comment, but was cut off by Loki regardless. "She would probably never leave that room if she weren't provided distractions."

She glanced at him. "Yes, and we all know how well you distract someone from what they should be doing."

"I never hear you complain. In fact, I hear you do the complete opposite."

She grinned, realizing his game. "I never hear you complain much either." She wasn't expecting his hand to return to her leg under the cloth, only this time not in an innocent distance from her hips. However, she masked her surprise well.

The others seemed to have taken no notice to their playful banter. Only Fandral seemed concerned. "Is he distracting you from important work, Miss Dyre?"

"Not at all. He helps, really. There are some forms of magic I don't quite understand. Physical motions are required that I just can't seem to get right on my own."

"You sell yourself short," the trickster replied simply, the hand traveling down her inner thigh. "I think you've improved vastly over the past ten months."

"I'd hope so." She placed her hand over his, but instead of removing it, she encouraged it. In doing so, she could have sworn she heard him purr in that satisfied way of his.

"I'm sure there are other things you still must learn," Fandral said to gain her attention again. "Training with swords, perhaps? I am a master swordsman, you know. I could be of great assistance."

Her surprise did show through as she felt a leg press against hers, this time from across the table where Fandral sat. She pulled out of his reach, which Loki did not fail to notice. Dyre merely twisted her wrist below the table, and she saw Fandral flinch in pain as she located a major nerve in the leg. She gave a sly smile. "No, I believe I am fine with what I've been taught. Wouldn't you agree?"

Thor frowned around his food. "Fandral? What seems to be the problem?"

"Nothing at all," he responded quickly and Dyre lifted the magic. "Leg cramp. I'm fine."

"You should have that looked at," Loki said, mirth in his eyes.

Dyre took notice of Volstagg, who had still not started eating. This was only due to him piling a mountain of food on his plate. "Volstagg, where do you even put all that food?"

"Even we have not figured that out," Sif said from beside Thor. "That gullet of his will be the death of him some day."

"I'll have you know it takes quite a deal of energy to do what I do," the rotund Warrior said, topping off his morning sandwich delicately with a piece of toast. "I must eat well to keep up my strength."

Dyre watched him prepare to take a bite and she twisted her wrist again. She saw him take a bite and she herself almost felt bile rise in her throat.

Volstagg frowned at the sandwich, and dropped it immediately, spitting out the food. The lower half of a large roach crawled out of the meal and over the plate, making the man jump back in surprise. "The palace is infested!"

Lady Sif covered her mouth while Thor pulled his own plate away. He watched the roach fall under the table, where Dyre made it vanish. "I doubt it is infested. You must have been unlucky. Make another."

"They're tricky bugs, aren't they?" Dyre said, returning to her own plate of food. "I found one in the washroom not long ago. Luckily I had Markku nearby and he killed it. I couldn't imagine one getting in my food, let alone taking a bite out of it." She could see the Warrior's face turn a shade greener. "Why Volstagg, you look pale. You should probably see me before you leave."

"No, no, I'm fine. Just…" He trailed off and covered his mouth, heaving for a moment.

Below the table, she felt a different sort of pressure, one she recognized as magic not of her own pressing against her core under her dress. He had started to play dirty. However, she could play just as dirty. She turned her attention to Thor. "So Loki tells me you will be hunting boars?" She twisted her wrist, sending the same pressure to the juncture of his hips and she could see him react ever so minutely. It was faint, but she knew what to look for. His eyes darkened and his lips pressed into a fine line as he glanced at her. She only gave a subtle wink and kept her attention on his brother. She would most likely pay for it later, not that she would complain. She found she enjoyed being a submissive.

Thor basically dropped his mug to the table. "Yes. A pack of them passed by yesterday. It is a fine excuse for a hunt. If we're lucky, we can provide for a small feast within the next few days, should the weather favor us."

She almost gasped as the magical pressure increased. "Ah, I hope so too. A festival is something we could use. The palace has been quiet lately." She attempted to hide behind her glass.

Fandral, however, noticed her tells. "Are you feeling well, Miss Dyre? Your cheeks are reddening."

She heard the trickster next to her snort faintly, though he only hid his grin behind his own cup.

"I must be coming down with something. Nothing serious though. I'll take care of it once I leave." She discretely twirled her fingers and saw his grip on the cup tighten. She refused to be outdone. It wasn't easy to ignore the twisting pressure, but she was doing a well enough job. "So, how many are in this pack?"

"Around six, so says Hogun," Thor answered, nodding to the silent man who had yet to touch anything.

"Six? And you're planning on taking them all down by yourselves? That is impressive." She closed her hand around air, and she heard his hiss of surprise. That was what she needed. "Is something wrong, Loki?" She tried her hardest to hide her satisfied smirk.

"Nothing at all. Just a minor irritation."

She bit her lip as the pressure slipped inside of her before vanishing entirely. It was his way of saying he was through with playing games. It was also his way of punishing her. "I'm sure you all would like to discuss your journey. I'll be on my way. Thank you for allowing me to stay at the table with you all."

Thor frowned. "Wouldn't you like to stay?"

"No, really, I should be going." She stood from the bench of the grand table and bowed. "If I do not see you before your departure, good hunting."

* * *

><p>Her original destination was the gardens, where she could distract herself long enough to calm down. However, she was found before she could make it there. "You should know better than to test my restraint," her trickster hissed in her ear.<p>

She wasn't allowed to answer. He grabbed her upper arm and dragged her away, towards the stables. "Where are we going?"

"There isn't enough time to leave to our hallway, and I'd rather not phase shift the whole way there and back."

Even after sharing beds for months, her heart still began to race. He tossed her down the first narrow, dark corridor he could find and followed after her, pushing her against the wall and latching on to her lips. She tried pulling back, but he was relentless.

He reached between them and unfastened his slacks, pulling his harder self out. With little effort he started hiking her dress up, running his hands down her smooth legs.

When he finally let her breathe, she gave him a sly grin. "Someone's in a rush. I thought a trickster god would love games."

"I do. And I love how you're so naughty. That was your work with Volstagg's food, and you put Fandral in his place, didn't you?"

"Guilty." She gasped as he latched on to her throat and ran his fingers over her slit. "You taught me well."

"So I have. Perhaps too well." He slipped his fingers inside her, curling them forward, grinning as she whimpered. "You struck back against me. You've been a bad girl."

"I thought— I thought you liked it." She leaned forward and grasped on to his shoulder, finding a sense of stability as he hit something inside her.

"Mm, I did. But you were still disobedient. I should punish you for it." He quickened his finger's strokes and she bit down on her cry of pleasure. "However, I'm pressed for time." He tried pulling his fingers out, but she held him there. "Still disobeying me?"

"Don't-don't stop."

It was more of a plea than a command, and he allowed it. He kept up his movement, his excitement mounting at her whimpers. Knowing he had this much power over a creature was intoxicating. If he wanted it, he could stop her pleasure and leave her there in the passageway. He could bring her to the brink of her climax and pause, drawing it out as long as his fingers could go. Instead he locked his lips with hers, feeling her moan against him. She grasped on to his neck and buried her face in the crook of his shoulder as her body snapped and shuddered more violently than usual, making her scream into his skin. At the same time, he felt a surprising expulsion of liquid around his fingers. He slowed his strokes, feeling her shaking. "I wasn't aware you could do that."

She loosened her grasp on his neck and leaned against the wall. "I wasn't either. I thought it was a myth." She yelped as he lifted her to his hips and slipped inside of her. "Loki!"

"You had yours, I need mine." He pushed her back against the wall, keeping them balanced as he shifted in to her. "Now shut up and ride me."

She pushed against the wall to meet his strokes, leaning her head back as he pressed his lips to her throat and what showed of her chest from under her low cut dress. Her legs wrapped around his waist to help her rock with him.

He held her up as he shoved her into the wall, filling her up over and over again. He ignored the budding warmth that had been creeping into his chest when they were together for almost a month now. He passed it off as lust for the longest time, though he was finding it harder and harder to lie to himself. They had agreed to no strings attached. No love. Nothing. Only sex. Emotions would only complicate things if they needed to part ways again. That couldn't stop the warmth, the feeling of acceptance. When she was in his arms, nothing else mattered. He may have been her master, her teacher in the ways of magic, he still never treated her badly. It was all in fun. He loved having control over her, but at the same time, he loved the fact she let him dominate her. It was a mutual thing he found he needed. He shifted his legs for better balance and ground his teeth as he started to reach his limit.

She bit her lip, swallowing her moans as he hit all the right spots. Her heart screamed for her to tell him the truth, but her mind made her stop. It was sex; it was all it ever would be. They were friends, nothing more.

He was closing in on his peak. He couldn't hold back much longer. It was then he realized something he hadn't before. "Fuck."

"W-what is it?"

"Where should I—?"

She caught his eye and licked her lips. "You tell me."

A shock of pleasure raced down his spine. "On your knees then." He pulled out of her and set her weight down, letting her kneel before him. He shivered as she pulled his cock in her mouth and he leaned forward against the wall. "Good girl. Just like that." He shifted his hips in time to her motions, being careful to not thrust too far. He let out a long satisfied moan as he released down her throat, jerking a few times as he grew too sensitive. He leaned his head against his arm on the wall and looked down at her, meeting her gaze as she swallowed. "You have no idea how alluring that is."

"I take it that should suffice while you'll be gone?"

"It will do." He helped her to her feet and adjusted his pants back into place. "Try not to miss me too much."

She arched a brow. "I should say the same to you."

He scoffed, but smiled all the same. "Don't flatter yourself, Love."

She grinned and backed him into the opposite wall. "Admit it. You'll miss me."

He held up his hands. "I refuse to admit or deny any such thing."

She slapped his shoulder. "Don't get yourself killed, alright? Life would be too boring without you around to distract me from my work."

"I'll see to it." He stalked down the hallway when she let him away from the wall.

She bit her lip, watching him leave. "Loki?"

He paused but didn't turn around. "What?"

"I…" Her nerve vanished completely. "Keep Thor in check. He could learn a few things from you."

He let out another scoff. "Don't wait up for me."

She let out a heavy sigh and leaned against the wall, staring at his retreating form. "I love you, you prat," she muttered. She waited a few minutes to leave as well, leaving in the opposite directions of the stables.

Neither realized they had been seen by a certain woman warrior who had kept herself hidden well. Lady Sif dropped from the rafters, a smug smile on her face as she watched the medicine woman's steps. "Well then, that is interesting."


	5. The Hunt

Approximate time: Same time as "Caught".

* * *

><p>Eight days. Eight long excruciating days to hunt a boar. Tracking the damned thing was almost impossible after a storm made them retreat into a nearby cave. It took two more days for them to pick up the trail again. Even the horses seemed to be losing their patience. "For something that is supposed to be fun, I'm not having much of that feeling," Loki muttered to his brother as they took up the rear guard.<p>

Thor frowned. "Sure we've had less than the best of luck, but it has still been enjoyable being in the company of our friends."

Loki swallowed a scoff. They were his acquaintances, nothing more. They were the same as almost everyone else, put off by the way he used his magical gifts. Only one person had encouraged him to keep his gifts as they were, and he found himself wanting to see her again. The urge had never been as strong, mainly due to how rare it was for him to be away from the palace more than four days at a time while hunting with his brother. The urges never had a chance to stray farther from a strong need to slake his growing lust. Now that he had been on the damned creature's back for eight days, the lust started to grow into something that confused him. It wasn't something he understood nor wanted to understand.

The grunting of Fandral's steed made him stop and look ahead, pausing with the others. They dismounted the horses quietly, grabbing their weapons.

The hunt was finally on.

* * *

><p>Each of the men and Sif laughed around their campfire for the night as they recounted their tales of the fight, as well as fights past. Four decently sized boars hung from a sturdy tree not far away so they could be drained before they returned for Asgard the next morning.<p>

"And did you see that boar's eyes when Loki did his fake image spell?" Volstagg said, howling in laughter. "I've never seen a pig stick itself. How far would you say those tusks went into that tree?"

"At least most of the tusk," Fandral answered, always willing to stretch the truth. "And Lady Sif, that excellent maneuver, how is it done?"

Loki tuned out the rest of the conversation, focusing on the metallic sound of whetstone against his daggers. It wasn't an oddity for him to be involved in the stories when he did something physically impressive. When he thought of it, their jabs were not always misdirected. He hadn't exactly done them any favors, nor had they done any for him. Regardless, he sat a minute distance away from the others, continuing his work as if nothing had crossed his mind at all.

"You're quiet tonight, Loki," Thor's thunderous voice said next to him, though all present could hear. "Do you not wish to join in our celebration? We've caught four marvelous boars, and here you sit sharpening your weapons. What is on your mind?"

Before he could answer, Volstagg let out a booming laugh around his rations. "He's been away from that medicine woman too long. It's starting to go to his head."

He wanted to throw his current dagger into the rotund warrior's eye socket. "I've no idea what you mean," he muttered, resuming the motions.

"It has been a long eight days," Sif said with a grin. "I don't think he's gone this long for over a year now. How does it feel?"

He chose to not answer. Sif and his brother had taken quite a few scouting missions over the week, and so he knew she was prodding in places she didn't belong.

To his surprise, Fandral voiced his opinion next. "I don't blame him."

He looked up from his work. "For what exactly?"

"For wanting a woman's touch. I'm going mad here as well."

As he thought about it, he shouldn't have been surprised. He was more offended by his choice of words, saying "a woman's touch" as if he had strayed the past year.

"At least he is with the same woman," Hogan interjected.

"That we know of," Fandral countered. "He's had two at once before."

"Not this time," Sif said, studying the god of mischief's face. "He actually cares for this one."

Loki rolled his eyes, tired of the way they were speaking, as if he was not sitting right in front of them. "That never happened, Fandral. None of the others lasted more than a night. And I don't care for her in the way you think I do, Sif. We've been close friends since all three of us were small children." He shrugged, ignoring a crawling feeling in his gut, as if his body was trying to tell him something. "We are still friends. We only find ourselves in each other's beds now that we are older." He gave a particularly hard stroke of the whetstone. "I believe we are allowed to have such luxury. Why would I stray and hunt for another woman when I have a willing one right down the hall?" The words felt vile as he said them, almost making him want to take them back. However, it was what they had agreed upon months ago. No strings attached. Just friends. Just sex.

Volstagg frowned. "A woman who does not want an emotional attachment? Those exist?" Sif slapped his shoulder. "What?"

Thor started laughing. "You can't deny you had a crush on her growing up. You were smitten from day one."

He shook his head in disbelief. "You did as well. We were young boys with a girl for a friend. What did you think was going to happen?"

"As I recall, she became the object of many of our spats."

"Due to you being a pompous ass." He shoved his dagger in his coat with the others, moving on to the next dull one. "You made it a game." He smirked. "And, as I recall, she began spending more time with me than you, and it stung you something fierce."

Thor's smile faded. "I suppose I was a lot to handle."

Loki suppressed a snort and kept his attention to the dagger. "She had said something about liking magic more than strength. Tricks over swords." He shrugged. "What could I do?"

"Not give her a ring, that's what."

This immediately piqued the interest of everyone else. "He what?" Fandral said, truly astonished.

"Are you still upset about that?" Loki said with a groan. "Didn't you tease me enough afterward to where I almost regretted the choice?"

"Did I miss something?" Volstagg said, almost forgetting his rations. "Did Loki propose to her once?"

"No!" He threw the dagger into the ground in frustration. "No, we were still young when I gave it to her. It was a gift. Young females like jewelry. I got her jewelry for her birthday. Silver with an emerald, since she hates gold." He noticed them all staring, making him uncomfortable. "Does it matter?"

Thor laughed again. "I remember what I said now. I said 'You got a girl a ring, now you have to marry her'."

He narrowed his eyes. "How did we even get on the topic of this? She stopped wearing it some time ago. She must have lost it. It doesn't matter any longer." He made a shooing motion with his hand. "Discuss something else, like Hogun's sex life."

"Yours is more interesting," Fandral countered. "How many offspring do you have running about?"

"I… I don't know. That's not something I would know. I don't talk to any of the women I slept with in the past."

"I hadn't even thought of that," Volstagg said, finishing his rations. "What if she becomes with child? You've been sleeping together for so long, it is almost certainly going to happen."

He hadn't exactly thought of the issue. She had a tea her mother made her that prevented her from becoming pregnant, but it wasn't completely accurate. There still was a chance that, even when she took the teas, she could still become pregnant. "I pull out most of the time. I don't have much of a risk of becoming a father to her child." He paused and shook his head. "Why am I even discussing this with you? It's none of your damned business what I do and who I do it with."

"We boast of our sexual conquests enough. We never hear input from the infamous God of Mischief," Fandral replied. "What keeps you in her bed? Or her in yours?"

He didn't answer right away. He didn't want to discuss his personal life amongst his brother's friends. When the others sat in silence, genuinely wanting to hear his stories, he sighed. "There's history. And, it is only sex. Women have needs just as men do." He gave a quick look to Sif. "I would rather return to a woman whom I've taught how to please me from the day I took her purity than one who agrees readily to sex." They each went quiet, making him wonder what he had said. "What?"

"I wasn't aware she was still pure," Sif said. "I had thought—"

"It doesn't matter," Thor interrupted. "In a way, he saved her that way."

"Yes, the elf," Fandral said, handing Volstagg the remains of his rations. "She had been promised to him pure, if I'm not mistaken."

Loki found himself growing increasingly uncomfortable with the conversation. In the past, and even now, the others would speak freely of their sexual conquests as if they were nothing. He usually did not participate, but did laugh along with them. It was unnerving to be the focus of the conversation. He looked on in surprise as his brother handed him a bottle of Asgardian Amber, something he must have been hiding the whole trip. He took the hint and uncorked it, taking a few swigs.

"So, is it really just sex?" Fandral asked.

"Yes, I've said that." He tried passing the bottle back to Thor, but his brother refused. He rolled his eyes and kept it for himself. "Honestly, there is nothing more there."

Sif laughed. "You are dense, aren't you?"

He frowned. "What do you mean?"

"The woman's been allowing you to mount her for a year and expects nothing in return? I highly doubt it. I've seen the glances you both give each other at dinner. And I've seen you both slip down corridors." Her sly grin remained as he answered with a few more pulls from the Amber. "You should traverse further down those corridors, by the way."

He almost choked on his last tug. The last time they had slipped down a narrow hallway had been a week ago, right before he left for the hunt. They were unable to return to their rooms, so he had just pressed her to the wall, wrapped her legs around his waist, and made sure they would both be satiated for a few days. He had been so sure no one had seen. "You saw that?"

The others only laughed, and Fandral made a comment about how he was surprised Sif's eyes didn't burn out of her sockets.

He rolled his eyes and returned to sharpening his daggers. "It matters not what I do, or what you think we feel. We're friends, nothing more."

"Sex complicates things," Fandral continued. "A few nights every so often wouldn't mean anything. But over a year with the same woman… that means something."

"Believe whatever you 'd like to believe." He felt a little lightheaded from the Amber. "I don't need to listen to the opinions of a man that has at least one woman in his bed every night." He paused in his work, a thoughtful look on his face. "Why is it they never come back after you've taken them to bed? Is it that small, unsatisfactory penis Dyre assumed you have?"

Even in the light of the fire Loki could see Fandral fluster. "Watch your tongue."

He leaned forward, his trademark grin prominent. "Or what? I thought we were talking of our sex lives." His eyes lit up. "Or is it because you're still envious of me that I managed to keep the one woman you didn't catch with your lackluster bullshit?"

Fandral attempted to get up, but Volstagg held him back. "I'm warning you…"

His grin only widened. "Tell me, Fandral, how does it feel knowing she continuously seeks me out and shuns you? What does that say?"

"That's enough, Loki!" Thor shouted, and his brother's grin slowly faded. "Enough, both of you. This was to be a night of jesting and celebration, not taunting."

He put a hand to his heart in a sign of sincerity, eyes cautious. "I meant no harm."

"Oh stow it!" Fandral pulled out of Volstagg's grip. "You don't deserve her. You take the poor woman you claim to be your friend for granted."

He pointed his dagger at the warrior. "And you do? The man infamous for his ability to sleep with every woman in the kingdom?" He paused. "Almost every woman. Think of it. Am I really so horrible for her? I have never taken anything she provides for granted. I ask for nothing. I do not demand her to sleep with me. I also have not cast her aside like a used toy as you do almost every night to women you don't even bother to learn their names beforehand." He lowered the weapon, instead picking up the bottle by the neck, his eyes narrowed in a taunting manner. "How am I the villain in this?"

Fandral bristled and stood, stalking away into the woods.

Thor watched him leave. "That was unwise, Brother."

"Excuse me while I cry for forgiveness." He scoffed and looked at the liquor, debating if he wanted to make his head any more distorted. He was already feeling different, more at ease. His filter also slacked. "I have good intentions. To her I mean." He ended up deciding more of the Amber was his best choice.

It didn't slip by Thor's notice. "Sif, Hogan, Volstagg, would you mind calming Fandral down?"

They each nodded and stood, leaving to find their missing warrior.

Thor waited until they were gone before continuing. "I know you have good intentions. You usually have horrible ways of showing what you really want to show. We only want to make sure Dyre is not harmed with this. If what you say is true and you still do not love each other, no harm will come."

He scoffed and took another deep pull. The burn of the liquor was gone by then. "That's the thing. I'm not sure if it is true."

Thor scowled. "What do you mean?"

"Women are women. They get attached, no matter what. I know she's developed something." He stared at the bottle. "She hasn't said it. Probably afraid of what I'd say." The previous tugs started to catch up to him.

He nodded a few times. "What will you do if she has?"

"If it were months ago when this all started I would have ended the relationship. Now, I'm not sure."

He smirked. "The sex is that good?"

"You've never had the chance to take a virgin and mould them to your liking, teach them everything that works. On top of that, she's very…" He tried to look for the right word.

"Curious?" Thor tried.

"In a way. She's not afraid to try new things, not afraid to take control if I offer it. It's… strange." He shrugged and set the bottle down. "In a way, she is mine. I helped make her who she is behind bedroom doors."

"Or hallways," he added with a chuckle.

"Or hallways." He stared into the fire. "Is it normal to still sleep with the same woman for over a year? To be unable to completely slake your lust?"

"In certain circumstances, I believe so." He took the bottle from his brother before he could ingest any more. "She's our friend. We were unable to see her for so long. Due to that, I don't want her hurt."

"Nor do I. As I said, I don't ask her to do anything. It is her choice. If she were to ask to stop this—" He paused, dwelling on the thought. What if she would soon want it all to stop? Could they still just be friends like they used to be? He immediately locked away the thought of seeing her with another man, not wanting to think about it.

"What would you do?"

"I'd… I'd stop."

His brother waited, nodding. "Not willingly."

"Of course not willingly you twit." He checked himself. "I apologize."

"All is forgiven." He toyed with the bottle, keeping his gaze to the flames as his brother was doing. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Do you love her?"

"Even if I did, it'd be forbidden, you know this. It would be pointless."

"You didn't answer me."

He glared at his brother. "I don't."

Thor almost flinched at the edge included in his tone. "And you believe she does."

"It would appear that way."

"Then you need to stop this. All of it. She will only get hurt if you turn her away." His brother refused to meet his gaze. "Don't let her fall farther."

"I know what needs to be done. Don't tell me what to do." The way he said it signaled the end of their conversation. He wasn't sure what he was feeling. It was more than lust. He missed the feel of her weight pressed against him, the sound of her sighs in his ear as he thrust himself inside her, the taste of her sweet lips, the smell of the native flowers she used in her perfumes. It was more than physical what he was beginning to miss. He missed her laughter, her comforting hold, her intellect and sharp wit. The more he thought about their situation, the more he realized he would seek her out for more than sex. She kept him stable where others couldn't.

He tried standing, feeling the world attempt to rush up to meet him. He kept his balance on the tree behind him.

Thor noticed. "Where are you going?"

"I didn't think it would be appropriate to piss in front of my flesh and blood." It was half true. The other half of his reasoning remained in his head. He needed a moment alone. Once he found his feet he wandered into the forest until he was sure he was far enough away that he wouldn't be heard. He kept his mind occupied, trying to sort out his head. What was the warmth he felt around her? A sense of comfort? A fleeting thought of affection? No, it was more than that. He had felt something similar many years ago when they were in the gardens. Was that really…?

A breeze brought a familiar scent to his nose and he closed his eyes, imagining a presence next to him. The breeze passed through again, and the warmth returned. He could have sworn he felt her by him, lightly touching his arm in reassurance. "Would it be so wrong if I loved you?" he muttered. He opened his eyes to darkness once more, the imagined presence gone. He shook his head and adjusted his clothes. "What a foolish notion…"


	6. Alternate Mindset

Approximate time: A month after chapter 16.

* * *

><p>A month had passed since Malak's trial. Everything calmed down, and life returned to normal. As normal as it could be after the hardships the elf had provided. In a way, he had given Dyre a new start, an escape. She left her bathroom fully dressed, regretting her agreement to stay in the healing room that whole day. The magic she was still refining helped tremendously, but it still didn't ease the boredom. Luckily, she had a distraction to steal her away from her work every so often for a few minutes of fun in a nearby closet. It wasn't much, but when she was so far from their hallway and she couldn't be gone long, it was a welcomed respite.<p>

He had been gone for a few days that week, and so she was left without her breaks, which reminded her just how much her mother thought she didn't know. Every few minutes she was asked a question, and when seeing a patient, her mother would hover. It was getting to the point that Dyre was getting tempted to put sleeping draught in her mother's tea. She loved the woman, of course, but there was only so much Dyre could take without her outlet for frustration.

She fought against the urge to go back to bed and made her way out of her room, down the corridor that housed both her room and his, as well as a few other spares. As she approached his door, it opened, and a servant woman emerged from it, adjusting her dress. The woman bowed and left in the direction of the main corridors. Dyre felt a flash of anger and opened his door again. "I wasn't even aware you were back," she spat out before she realized he was fully clothed, laying out on his couch, reading a book he had taken from her shelf when they returned from Midgard.

He glanced over the paperback at her. "I arrived early this morning with the others. I wasn't about to wake you before dawn."

"But I see you can wake a servant woman."

He grinned and let the paperback dip down a bit, making her want to eat her words. "I wasn't aware we had an exclusive relationship, Love." He shrugged and sat up, tossing the book on his table next to food she just noticed. "However, it is not what you think. I have options, though I haven't looked." The grin only widened. "Is my mistress jealous?"

"I'm not."

"Please, you can't lie to me." He finally turned his attention away from her, on to his uneaten breakfast. "So why are you here?"

"Was on my way to the healing room when I noticed… you were back. I thought I'd say good morning. Forget it though."

He only glanced at her. "Now why would I lie with another woman when you're such a feisty wildcat?"

She noticed the playful tone of his voice, saw his pale green eyes darken in lust. "Down, boy. Your wildcat has work to do."

He shifted off the couch with a scoff. "Your mother won't even notice."

"My absence? I'm sure she will. She has to pass this door to get to mine. With how we are, she'd hear for sure."

He phase shifted behind her and held on to her frame. "Let her hear." His breath tickled her ear. "I wouldn't care if the whole palace heard us."

She laughed as he began hiking her dress up. "Don't, I really have to go."

"Mm, do you? Or are you making up excuses?"

She managed to fight him off, but didn't get far as he chased her and caught her around the middle, leaving her squealing in laughter. "Really, Loki, I have work to do."

He turned her around and her laughter faded. "If that's the case, I should send for the slave again. She seems more than willing to do what you're denying me."

Something in her snapped. She narrowed her eyes and curled her lip. Without a word she shoved him back. His knees collided with his bed, making him fall to the sheets, holding himself up. She straddled his hips and tore his shirt open, hearing a few of the buttons fall to the stone floors.

He, however, only let out an amused purr. "There's my little sex kitten."

She bore her teeth at him, their lips hovering a mere inch apart. "You're infuriating."

"I'm glad you caught on." He held on to her shoulders. "Before we do anything, I brought something back from Midgard."

She arched a brow in confusion as he shifted her off his legs. "I wasn't aware you were in Midgard."

"There were a few things there I wanted to retrieve. While I was there I ran into very interesting Midgardians."

"They must have been if you didn't kill them." She watched him reach into the cabinet next to his bed for something. "What is so important that can't wait?"

He chuckled. "You were in such a rush to leave, and then you rip my shirt to get me half naked and want to jump me. You should have your hormones checked." He found what he was looking for and sat next to her again. In between his fingers was a tightly rolled piece of paper with something inside it.

"And this is supposed to be…?"

"Fun. Well, it was when I first did this."

"How is a rolled up piece of paper fun?"

He laughed again. "No, it's what's inside it. It makes things… interesting."

"Uh-huh." She rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll try it. What do I do?"

"Your father smoked, right?"

"Yes."

"Same thing." He placed it between his lips and lit it to get it going, taking a few pulls to get the end smoldering, letting smoke out in rich white clouds. He took one large pull and held it in for a moment before letting the smoke out his nose, coughing a bit. "Your turn."

She took the object, smelling a rich, earthy aroma form the ember. "What will this do exactly?"

"It does different things to everyone. Some get hungry, some philosophical, some giggly, and some extremely horny."

"Let me guess, it makes you horny."

"No. You'll see."

With a sigh she put it between her lips as she watched him do and took a deep pull. She wasn't expecting the harsh burning sensation that hit her throat as she did, making her have a small coughing fit. "The fuck was that?" she managed to get out as she bent over. "Don't tell me that's what it does."

"For awhile. You get used to it." He took the remainder and waited for her to calm down again. He took another pull and instead of holding it in his lungs he tilted her head up and kissed her, releasing the smoke into her mouth. He grinned against her lips and placed the rest of it in an ashtray he had set on the surface of his cabinet. "Hopefully that didn't burn as harsh."

"No." She sighed as he pushed her gently to her back, refusing to leave her lips for a moment. She ran her hands over his exposed skin, making him push harder. Her head began to feel like it was floating, more than it usually did when he pinned her down. Any time she tilted it she saw a split second dark shadow.

He pulled away, content to just give her a knowing grin as her expression changed to slight curiosity. "You won't feel the full effects lying down." He helped her up and she felt a second of dizziness before everything righted again. "How are you feeling?"

"Strange. A good strange though." She put a hand to her face, touching her cheek. "I'm super aware of my skin for some reason though."

He tried stifling his laughter, but it was easier said than done.

"I mean it. It's all tingly."

"I believe you. So what do you think?"

She nodded a few times, her eyes still curious. "I'm a lot more relaxed."

"Good to hear." He sat back in his bed, taking her with him. He almost groaned at how good it felt to touch her.

"I'm not even worried about my mother," she said. "I need a break away from her. She's driving me crazy."

"She worries. She has a right to."

She shrugged, her eyes growing a little heavy. "I suppose. But I have very little chances to steal away from work under her watch."

"I'm aware. We need to find a better place besides a broom closet. That would have been acceptable when we were children. It's a pain to do now."

She scoffed. "Coming to see me and being left with a broom closet is painful? Well I see how it is."

"No I mean the closet is painful. I've bruised my ass and my hips too often in there. If it's worth it to see you then I put up with it."

She was about to ask when he had bruised his ass, but remembered a day where she shoved him into what she thought was the flat door, but instead he hit the latch of the door. "Aw, so you do care when you visit. Should I start asking 'Hi Honey, how was your day?'"

He grinned and rolled over on top of her. "Yes, from now on you shall do as such. However, I prefer it when you call me your master."

She rolled her eyes but smiled all the same. "Fine, from now on I'll ask my master to tell me of his day." She pushed at his shoulder. "But for now, I'd like it if my friend would talk to me."

He frowned but didn't move. "Something's bothering you, isn't it?"

"Wouldn't ask for my friend if something wasn't." She played with the ruined edges of his shirt. "How does this relationship work?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean if… If I meet someone. What do we do?"

He hadn't put much thought into the topic. He was happy where he was in life. She listened to his every word, as a friend or as a lover. In return, he did the same. "Have you?"

"No, I haven't. But, if I do, what happens?"

He nodded down at them both. "This stops. We move on. We stay friends for as long as we can, ruining people's lives until we're old and grey. And even then."

She laughed at him, feeling a little more at ease. "That sounds like a good idea. Can't have anyone else having happy lives, can we?"

"Now that I have help I can get to the other half I'd missed before. Would you be satisfied with being a sidekick?"

Dyre snorted, unable to keep her composure. She rolled on her side under him, unable to breathe through her giggles as he curled up beside her. "Side-sidekick? Really" She elbowed his chest. "Partner in crime."

He chuckled. "Fine, an argument can be made for partner."

"Hm, companion of chaos!"

"Associate of animosity."

"Colleague."

"Girlfriend." Their laughter stopped short as the words flew past his filter. "Friend that happens to be a girl— woman."

"Yeah." She nodded, looking over her shoulder at him. "I'd be fine with any of those."

He nodded towards his washroom, wanting to take the conversation anywhere else. "Care to join me?"

* * *

><p>He sighed in satisfaction as he slipped into the hot water of the ornate tub. The water would normally feel relaxing on its own, but with the added effects of before, it felt even more amazing. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back as it felt like millions of tiny hands were rubbing out all the tight nerve endings of his skin. He felt a pleasant shock run through his body and he purred as she slipped in as well, leaning her back to his chest. Immediately his arms were around her, tracing small circles in her skin as she used him for support, her head back against his shoulder. He watched her little smiles of pleasure as he would hit sensitive spots.<p>

Pleasure erupted from every touch of his fingers, and she couldn't contain her soft moans. When his fingers dipped lower, her last logical thought left her. She gave a sly grin as she reached below her legs for him, feeling him already stiff with excitement.

He hissed and almost stopped his finger's strokes. He hadn't expected something so basic to make his blood boil. But as her fingers tightened around him and began to move with the help of the water, he had to grip on to her leg with his other hand to keep himself focused on pleasing her.

She leaned back against him, pulling him closer to kiss him as he brought her climax to the surface.

Her stokes and her cries of pleasure were bringing him too close. He had never felt so sensitive before. His hips jerked out of his control and he felt his muscles tighten for a moment. He clenched his teeth together, feeling a rush of hormones hit him at once. "That's it Love, almost there." He growled as his climax hit him hard, his head tilting against the back of the tub, the whole while continuing to give her pleasure as well.

She felt the slicker liquid rush past her fingers underwater, but she kept going, drawing it out as long as she could. Once told to stop, she took both her hands back and held on to his legs, her nails digging into his skin. Her senses were on overdrive, especially to his touch. The tingle in her gut flew all the way down to her toes and back up to her mind before her back arched and a scream of pleasure left her lips and he had to hold her legs down with his to keep them spread and in place. She tried to tell him it was enough but another wave washed over her before she could, and her mind went blank for a moment, a soft "enough" escaping her mouth. As soon as he slowed to a stop she fell back to his chest, both completely spent for the time being. She chuckled.

"What?"

"I don't think I've ever made you come with just my hand before."

He put on a thoughtful frown. "No, I don't think you have." He shrugged. "First time for everything." His bedroom door slamming closed made them both jump, especially when they heard who it belonged to and they knew they had no chance of running. "Oh fuck," he muttered through his teeth.

"Loki, Eir is looking for—" The thunder god started to stalk into the open washroom and immediately shielded his eyes. "Why is it any time I'm sent to fetch her I find you both in such positions?"

"If you'd start knocking, Brother, you wouldn't," he said stiffly as they both covered her, she out of embarrassment and he out of possession. "She came to me."

"I wasn't expecting him to distract me for so long," she said, her head starting to return to normal.

Thor turned his back, still shielding his eyes. "Just get dressed and go to your mother and I'll forget I ever saw anything, and I mean anything." He stalked away and they heard the door close again.

Loki let his head fall back as she got out of the water. "Stop letting me forget to lock that godsforsaken door." He looked over at her as she dried off. "Still fine?"

She nodded. "Fine enough to deal with my mother. At least I'm a bit more relaxed."

He folded his arms over the side of the tub and watched her redress. "So am I coming by later?"

"Are you?"

"Maybe." He leaned back in the tub, enjoying the rest of the warm water. He smiled and moaned as she ran her fingers over his temples before she left. "I'll think about it.

"Well then, I may or may not see you later."

He listened for his bedroom door to close again before hefting himself out of the tub to dry off. He'd have to keep more of that stuff around. If just her fingers could coax him to climax, he wanted to know what everything else would feel like. He kept the towel around his waist and returned to his room, laying out on his couch once more. The novel caught his eye and he looked at the cover. With a shrug he picked it up again, resuming his place before his interruptions.


	7. Get Yourself a Bad Boy

Approximate time: Two months before chapter 18 and "Thor"

* * *

><p>"Have you restocked the bandages?"<p>

Dyre clenched her jaws together, biting back a snarky comment while she paused in cutting herbs. "Yes, Mother." Silence met her ears, allowing her to resume her work. She slammed her knife against the table in a harder chop as Eir's voice rang out again.

"What of the vials? Have you cleaned them?"

"Yes, Mother." Her chops became sharp and short.

"And the scalpels?"

The knife slipped and she nicked her skin. She pulled away, dropping the knife with a curse as her growing impatience hit its peak.

"Dyre?" Eir stuck her head out of her adjoining room. "The scalpels?"

Dyre hid her bleeding finger under the table. "Washed and dried. All supplies are restocked and cleaned. Herbs are chopped and ready to be made into medicine." Under the table she ran her opposite hand over the gash and slowly closed the wound.

Eir frowned and Dyre knew her mother could understand her tone. "You're becoming terse. What has you so impatient and short tempered?"

Dyre bit her tongue, not wanting to tell her mother the true reason she was irritable. She had been cut off from her outlet for sex for over a week while he was hunting with his brother. "I haven't noticed a change," she lied, flexing the newly mended digit below the table. "I apologize if I've been short with you."

Her lips thinned in worry. "You can talk to me, Dyre."

"I honestly do not know what is wrong." She wiped the blood on her black dress and stood. "If you don't mind, I will retire for the night."

Eir sighed and crossed her arms. "I'm old, Dyre, not blind. I see the looks you give him. The looks he gives you when he thinks no one is watching. I know what is going on."

She felt her nerves flash but her face remained neutral. "I don't know who you mean." A knock on the double doors interrupted her mother and Dyre had never felt so grateful for a patient. She rushed over to the barriers and opened them, feeling her heart skip a beat entirely.

On the other side, a battered and bruised Loki stood, four long gashes slashed across his chest through his broken armor. "I hope it isn't too late."

She let out a breath she hadn't noticed she was holding. "What on Asgard happened?" Regardless, she moved aside and let him in, looking at his disheveled features. A sleeve was torn on his jacket and more gashes shined in the high light of the candles. Beyond him, she saw her mother give her a reproachful look, but retired to her room nevertheless. To Dyre's surprise, she felt no guilt in her mother's actions. She turned her attention back to Loki who had seated himself on one of the empty beds.

"We were attacked by a pack of wolves on the way back. Beasts must have smelled the boar we hunted."

She glanced at the door. "Where are the others?"

"They did not have a lapse in judgment as I did. I used daggers when I should have phase shifted."

She shook her head and chuckled. "Shirt off then. Let me see the extent of the damage."

Despite his visible injuries, he made a sound similar to a purr. "With your mother in the other room? Naughty girl."

"If you weren't injured I'd slap you a few times. Don't tease." She cleared the round center table of her chopped herbs while he did as asked, placing the herbs into their proper jars. When she turned around, her breath caught in her throat as she watched his lean muscles ripple while he pulled the shirt off his shoulders. She shook her head and swallowed, focusing on the bloody gashes. "Can't you heal yourself?"

He smirked. "Where's the fun in that when you have a better talent with healing?"

She returned the gesture. "Prat. What if you were to bleed out on your way?"

"If the wounds were life threatening it would be a different story entirely." He gestured to the injuries. "Do you mind?"

Without a word she stood in front of him and took his arm, summoning healing energies to her hand. She lingered over his skin after the wounds were healed and all that remained was dried blood. She trailed her fingers up his arm and down his chest, a small smile gracing her features as she saw gooseflesh rise under her touch. Within moments the four cuts were closed, though she kept her hands in place.

He cleared his throat. "I see you've been keeping busy the past week."

She rolled her eyes and took her hands back. "Mother's been making sure of that. She's been keeping me so busy, asking me questions every few minutes to remind me to do things I've already done." She collapsed into the bed adjacent to him, her left leg propped up and exposed from a slit in her dress "I need a vacation."

"I may be able to use my infamous silver tongue to get us out of here for a small amount of time."

She grinned as he got up to kneel over her body and slid her arms up around his neck. "Why don't you show me what else your infamous silver tongue can do?"

He let a breath of a laugh out of his nose. "I return for barely more than a half hour and you already want me in your bed?"

"I've wanted you in my bed for a few days now."

He chuckled and ran his hand up her exposed leg, trailing his fingers down her thigh. "I missed you too." He ignored the budding warmth that spread in his chest and ran his tongue over her throat. He brushed it off as lust as he pressed his lips to hers. He heard her take in a sharp breath through her nose and felt her arch her back, pressing her chest to his.

She shifted her lips open, wanting to feel as much of him as possible. He greedily accepted the invitation and he groaned against her skin. It may have only been a week, but to her, it felt like forever. She forced down her emotions that refused to be locked away. She had known the truth for awhile, but given their arrangement, the emotions could ruin it, despite what he had said after Malak's trial.

He felt his control slip and he knew he would have to stop too soon. He was still surprised at how easily she could make him forget himself, forget his problems. Her hands slid down his throat and rested against his bare chest, tracing the contours of his skin. With a mental curse he pulled away, letting them realize how short of breath they were.

She pouted and ran her bare leg over his. "I thought you were to show me everything your silver tongue could do."

He chuckled and gave her a shorter kiss. "I will when the time is right, my temptress. I've no desire to be caught by your mother in the middle of making you scream for me."

She sighed but allowed him to get up to redress himself. "Valid point aside, how would we get out? And where would we even go? You hate Midgard, and not many other worlds are as interesting in their cultures."

"I don't hate Midgard. I hate the inhabitants." He paused in adjusting his leathers, a sly grin sneaking on his face. "I have just the idea that could make this interesting."

She arched a brow and crossed her arms, letting her bell sleeves fall over her belly. "Would you like to tell me what would make it interesting?"

"Wouldn't be a surprise if I did. Gather a few things and be ready to leave within the hour. Leave a note for your mother."

"Could you be any more vague?"

"I could be, but then you wouldn't be properly prepared. Nice things that would be acceptable on that miserable planet."

She narrowed her eyes as she watched him leave for the door. "What are you playing at?"

"You'll see."

* * *

><p>Hours later, Dyre found herself pleasantly tipsy on the dance floor of a club off the side of a beach, blending in fantastically with the humans. She had found nothing she could use in her closet, and so insisted she be taught how to shift her clothes with magic.<p>

While she learned, she was happy they had been in her room, due to her first attempt leaving her entirely topless, which delayed their departure quite a bit.

After she got the hang of it, she shifted her clothes to a pair of jeans and a black halter top that zipped together in the front. The top also delayed their departure longer, since he insisted on "testing the zipper to make sure it worked properly".

She swayed her hips in time to the music, not caring that the music was more deafening than she was used to back home. The beat was interesting, and they played all sorts of varieties. She tensed for only a moment as a set of hands held on to her hips. A quick glance over her shoulder made her relax and smile.

"Have I told you how fantastic your ass looks tonight?" he muttered in her ear.

"You did now. And before we left Asgard." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Though you were also saying a few other things while we were… engaged in other activities." She shivered at his laugh as he pressed against her.

"You can say what it is. Or are you still an innocent little girl, afraid to curse outside the bedroom?" He discreetly bit at her ear, making the shiver erupt again. "I remember you swearing quite a bit as I claimed you for my own."

"Mm, do you? You were swearing just as much as I rode you." She grinned as he growled and pressed his lips to her neck. "I think you like it when I fuck you, don't you?"

He gave her a sharp bite in response, but kept the actions minimal. "Woman, if you don't stop, I'll claim you right on this floor."

"There's a matter of the humans around us, however."

"I think the population can be thinned slightly, don't you?"

She placed her hands on his and lifted them from her hips so she could turn to look at him. He had taken the simple route and chose slacks with a button up shirt. She glanced beyond him and saw a few women looking their way, an obvious gaze of lust gracing their features. One even curled her tongue around the straw of her drink in case Loki would turn around to see her. Dyre arched a brow and felt a strange urge to lay claim to what was hers. "I'm starting to agree with you, in a way."

He followed her line of sight, and saw the same woman wink. He curled his lip. "Lie with a human woman? How repulsive." He turned his attention back to her and nodded to the second floor. "Let's get away from here."

On their way to the stairs, Dyre pointed to the woman now giggling with her friends. With a small effort of will, she made the woman's drink tip forward over her white shirt, immediately soaking it through with cherry-red.

"That was completely uncalled for," he said, though laughed regardless.

She looked to the stage, seeing a man operate a laptop. A grin graced her features. "Oh I haven't even started." She leaned against the railing and sipped her drink, finding herself longing for the potent liquor hiding in the room they had reserved. A few sips had put her in a better mood, and the Midgardian alcohol was keeping her buzz around.

He leaned against the railing next to her. "What do you see?"

She scanned the crowd, looking for victims that deserved chaos. A drunk man stumbled through the people, looking for a way to score for the night. He didn't appear to take hints very well. With a grin, Dyre made the man's drink spill over the current woman he was talking to, and she head the satisfactory shriek of the woman. Out of his own doing, the man tried wiping off the mess with his hand on impulse, awarding him a sharp slap across the face. Dyre purred as Loki pressed against her, his hands gripping the railing beside hers.

"Do you know how sexy it is when you ruin someone's night?" He watched with a satisfied smirk as the woman stormed off. "Though I believe it's my turn." He found his next target, but hesitated for a moment. "Don't slap me for this one."

She only looked on in interest as a woman who had stepped up to a stripper pole started trying her metal. She wasn't bad, but she wasn't good either. Dyre started laughing as Loki's magic made the woman's top untie, and the woman, already drunk, flailed trying to catch it. In her attempt, her grip on the pole wavered and she managed to fall right off the stage. The resounding gasp that filled the club made Dyre laugh harder. "Fine, you win. You're still the master prankster."

"Is that all I'm the master of?" he said, curling his tongue around her ear, making her shiver. He felt her jump as his fingers pressed against the front of her jeans, hidden from the lower level by the solid barrier in front of them.

"Mm, not exactly." It didn't slip her notice as the current song faded into another, finding it humorous as she listened to the lyrics. _"If you want it to be good, girl, get yourself a bad boy…" _She gasped as he hit a particularly sweet spot and covered his hand with hers. "Loki, someone will see."

"And I'll kill them if they say anything." With discreet skill, he loosened her jeans just enough to slip his fingers below the fabric, loving her hiss of pleasure. "Now, what else am I the master of, Pet?"

She was grateful the majority of the house lights were focused on the dance floor below, leaving the second level fairly dark. And the way he stood possessively behind her blocked the view of anyone on their sides. The rush of knowing they could still be caught heightened her pleasure, making her lean forward against the railing as his fingers circled around her clit. "Me. You are my master."

"Am I?" He leaned against her, pushing his fingers inside her to coat them properly. He pulled them out again to resume his circling strokes. "Then your master commands you to cause more mischief. Give the humans hell."

She found it hard to focus on more than his motions and wanted nothing more than to leave the club to the privacy of their room. She wanted him on her, thrusting against her until they could both bear it no longer. She almost whimpered as he stopped. "Loki…"

"Do as I say."

She bit her lip as he started again, testing her focus. She needed something more than a spilled drink or a wardrobe malfunction. She smirked as she saw another woman approach the stripper pole and hop on it drunkenly. She pointed her finger at it and waited for the woman to enter a spin. With a single thought, all the supportive screws holding it in place vanished, and with the force of the spin, the woman and the pole both went flying into the waiting crowd with a shriek. To please him further, she reached behind her and put pressure to the bulge in his slacks, feeling him press against her hand. "I did well?"

"You did very well, Love." He quickened his finger's strokes, making her knees buckle. He traced her jawline and her lips with his free hand, and a shock of pleasure coursed through his body as she took the fingers in her mouth and sucked on them as if they were another part of his body. Her tongue rolled around the digits and her lips vibrated as she closed in on her peek. His breath hitched in his throat as his head went light, unsure of what to do. He looked to see if anyone had noticed. If they had, they didn't keep looking. For now, attention was on the fallen woman who had been hurt a bit more than originally thought. He clenched his jaw and moaned, pressing against her hand to relieve the growing pressure as she nipped his fingers playfully. "I can tell you want something else in your mouth, don't you Dyre?"

She nodded and rolled her tongue around again, running it up a single digit. The coil he had been creating in her belly tightened and she clenched her eyes shut, grasping on to the bulge in his pants. She heard his groan of pure pleasure.

He could tell she was getting close by how her hips were trying to match his pace. He pulled his fingers from her lips and covered her mouth with his palm. "Don't hold back," he muttered into her ear. Not a second more her hips jerked away from his fingers and she let out a muffled scream no one else could hear due to the music and his hand. He refused to stop stroking her clit and fought to keep her in place until he knew she could bear no more. He kissed her neck and pulled his fingers from her pants, feeling her attempt to catch her breath. The warmth from before returned, and he knew he couldn't keep lying to himself. He couldn't continue brushing it off as lust. It was there every time he looked at her. He had said months ago love would change nothing in their agreement, but he didn't want to risk it. What they had was too good, and he needed it. To everyone else, he was a mischievous prince who needed to learn his place. To her, he was more than that. He was a lover, a friend, a protector. She would listen to him when he needed to be heard, when things would become unbearable with his brother. She would soothe him, calm him down. Would she still do what she did if he felt more than lust for her?

"Loki? You're quiet. Is everything alright?"

He cleared his throat and stood straight. "Yes, everything is fine. I could use some air though." He offered his arm and led her out of the club, ignoring the nagging thoughts in the back of his mind.

* * *

><p>Dyre took the bottle of Asgardian Amber when it was offered to her, and she felt her head spinning. She let out a snorting laugh as a thought passed through her cloudy mind.<p>

"What do you find so amusing?" Loki responded, well past his own limits for handling the liquor.

"I only glanced down and saw a pair walking in the sand."

He frowned and narrowed his eyes into the dark, peering off their balcony to where she was looking before. "Ah yes. I see them. What is amusing about them?"

"I only wondered… ah, it was a silly thought."

He made a grabbing motion in the air between them after she took another sip. "I thought one of our agreements was to share what was on our minds, no matter how trivial."

"You'll find me stupid."

He took some more of the liquor in. "I might. I can't tell you for sure what I'll think if I've no idea what you're talking about."

"I was only wondering what it would be like to have something like that. Something that wasn't just sex." The alcohol made the words flow past her usual filter, and she had no desire to stop them. She chanced a glance to him, seeing him tap the neck of the bottle against his lower lip in thought, keeping his gaze on the moonlit surf. "I know the terms were no strings attached. However, it doesn't seem like my heart wants to cooperate." She fell silent as she kept her gaze on the couple below, her heart sinking as she watched the man pick his woman up and spin her around, listening to her shriek in surprise and laugh. The couple fell back into the sand and from the looks of it where Dyre was sitting, they had begun one of those romantic kisses she saw in a few movies when they were hiding in Midgard.

He still remained silent, as if deep in thought. She almost wondered if he had heard her at all. Bitterness edged its way into her drunken stupor. She saw the bottle tilt back again out of the corner of her eye, but she said nothing more, only reached for it. When he handed it to her, she took more than a few sips at a time.

He only looked on as she winced at the burning sensation of the Amber. He stared at the bottle, seeing almost a third of it gone. They had started the trip with a full bottle. Without a word he took it back and replaced the cork.

"I'm sorry."

He didn't look up. "Why are you sorry?"

"For breaking our rules. This was to just be sex and minimal companionship, nothing more. I shouldn't have said anything." She rose to her feet, gripping on to the railing of their balcony to find her balance. She looked back to the couple, seeing them still lying on the beach in their embrace. She sent her power towards the ocean, summoning a large wave to wash over them. The intimacy was making her sicker than the alcohol was. She turned to him again, seeing him still look off to the surf, though instead of the bottle, he had his thumb placed to his teeth in thought. "I'll understand if you want this to end." She moved to go back inside, though he put his arm out to stop her, grabbing on to her wrist.

In one swift motion he brought her to his lap, holding her firmly in place. Just as quickly he pulled her face to his, crashing his lips with hers. He had known for some time that she was not able to keep to their agreement. Even so, even after they both said they did not love each other, he still let her close. Too close, it seemed. He had cared for her in the past, he wouldn't deny it, but he had no love for her then. If what she had said was true, it would have been the same for her. He reached between them for the zipper to her halter top, not breaking their kiss. Instead, she intensified it and frantically unfastened his shirt, popping one of the buttons clean off. Once the zipper was down he tugged it off her and let it fall to the ground as he met her pace, taking a deep pull of air through his nose as to not end their connection. He regretfully pulled away, letting them catch their breath. He put his forehead to hers, his chest heaving as his lungs filled with air again. "I don't want this to end. I broke our rules as well."

She pulled back to look at him. "What do you mean?"

He gave her a small smile. "I mean we've both complicated our agreement with keeping emotions out of it. We made the rule knowing it would be broken regardless."

She frowned, but then realization hit her. "You mean you—?"

"Yes. But it can go no further than us. I doubt anyone would understand as it is. They don't understand it now."

She looked away, rubbing at her now bare arms. "Mother knows. She does not agree with it."

"And how would she know?"

"Apparently we are not as crafty as we think with stealing glances." She played with the edges of his shirt, slipping under the folds to feel his skin. "So what happens now?"

"Nothing changes." He picked her up, letting her squeak in surprise as he took her back inside their rented room. He deposited her on the bed and knelt over her, pinning her figure down. "Though I hear the sex is more amazing when love is introduced."

She was surprised with how sober she felt after hearing what he told her. Her smile faded. "We're both drunk though. How can I know you're telling the truth?"

"We'll have to see if what they say is true." He loosened her jeans and pulled them off her body, leaving her bare for him.

Without a word she shifted to her knees and did the same for him, slipping the ruined shirt off his shoulders first. As she stared at his lean figure, she realized it had been a long time since she saw him fully naked. Recently they had to steal time away from their lives to just have the smallest time alone, which usually meant unzipped pants and hiked up dresses.

He started up their kiss again, slowly lowering her to her back, hovering over her to keep his weight off her form. He felt her leg ride up his side and rest over his own, making him hiss as it opened herself to him. If he wanted to he could have taken her easily in their position, but he held off, wanting to take it slow. He wasn't sure if it was due to the alcohol, or if it was his sober mind that had made him confess, but he wanted nothing more than to prove he wasn't lying to her. He groaned against her lips, stroking her tongue with his, eliciting a moan from her. The intensity grew again, making his head swim despite his inebriation. He drew in a hissing breath as her hands took hold of his harder self, stroking just how he had taught her to do. "You won't make this easy, will you?"

She shook her head, smirking as his head lowered to latch on to the skin of her throat, hearing the muffled moans and gasps as she played with him. She didn't want it to be easy; there was no fun in it. She loved being the source of his pleasure, the reason why he was able to lose himself completely. She bit her lip as he let out a curse, his expression strained as he held back his release. She loosened her grip and felt him buck his hips out of reflex against her, trying to relieve the pressure she built between his legs.

The instant she let go of him he trailed his lips down her body, pressing against her skin every so often. He spread her legs, kissing the inside of her thigh to tease her. Without a word he trailed his tongue over her slit, feeling for her clit. He knew he found it when she mewled softly and wound her fingers in his hair. He held her folds open and lavished his prize, wanting to hear her cry out for him. He knew she wouldn't scream just yet; that would come later. For now he was content with her moans, and by the way she twitched her hips against him. He held her down, his tongue relentless against her. He couldn't take the pressure of his own body much longer, but he refused to take her without giving her pleasure first.

She was reaching her peek, unable to hold it off. Without warning her head tilted back and her body twitched out of her control, a long, satisfied cry escaping her lips. Even so, he didn't stop. He wanted to draw it out as long as she could bear it.

He replaced his tongue with his fingers, quickening his pace, sending her immediately over the edge again. He couldn't wait. It had only been a few hours since they were together last, but it was still nothing like it was now. Then he had only wanted her, turned on by her exposed skin. Now he needed her. He felt as if he couldn't be inside her, he would break. He knelt over her again and held himself at her entrance. He met her gaze as she nodded, the only invitation he ever needed. Her walls were still tight from her orgasm, making it difficult to slip inside the first try. He pushed a few times, getting deeper each time, coating more of himself with her juices.

She gasped at each push and reached to the hand he had placed over her head, locking their fingers together as he filled her past her breaking point. She closed her eyes, focusing only on where they were connected. He was moving much slower than normal, and for the first time, she was grateful for it.

He saw her keep her eyes closed, and he bent forward to claim her lips again for only a moment. He hissed as she tightened around him, and he cursed the talent she had learned over the months. "Dyre, look at me." He gently held her face until she opened her eyes to him. His breath caught in his throat as he saw her blue eyes shine with unshed tears. "I want you to look at me. I need to see you."

She raised her hips for him as he slid his hands under her thighs, lifting her up for more depth. Her nails bit into his back as he hit a sweet spot, sending her head reeling. As soon as one orgasm began to fade, another took its place. She held on to his neck, running her hands through his hair as he kissed whatever part of her he could reach, moaning and sighing against her skin.

He clenched his teeth and pulled his lips back as she squeezed too tight, making him check his pace. He couldn't let it end so soon. He didn't want to fuck her. He wanted, for the first time, to love her. She moved against him as well, and he groaned as her nails ran down his back again, causing his hips to give a sharp jerk out of instinct, hearing her gasp and moan his name. He let out a long curse and held still, regaining his control. The alcohol took over for a moment, making him forget their positions. "Tell me you love me."

"Mm, I do." She placed a soft kiss to his lips, and another. "I love you, Loki."

He couldn't hold back any longer. His grip on her thighs tightened into a bruising hold and they both began thrusting shallowly against the other. He held on to her and rolled them over so she was on top, letting her take control temporarily. His eyes rolled back as she moved, still surprised she could make him feel like this. However, she threw him for a loop.

"What of you? What does your heart tell you?"

He bit his lip, muffling a grunt of pleasure. He hadn't expected her to ask in return. He shifted his legs under her, giving him more stability. He held her hips and thrust into her, almost knocking her off balance at the increased thrusts. She fell forward, leaning over his body, and he held her close with one arm, keeping his other hand on her hip. He'd later blame his words on the liquor. "I love you as well, Dyre." He felt the pressure build until it could build no more. He clenched his jaw, almost straining against the pleasure.

Dyre lost count at the amount of times she had climaxed. Her throat was becoming hoarse with her screams of bliss. At his answer she rolled her hips against his, hearing his hiss of a response. She felt her walls tighten around him a final time, her mind going blank as she cried out for him. It felt far too good.

"I love when you do that," he said with a strain in his voice and his head tilted back with a final curse. "I'm coming…" He forced her on her back and gave a few more powerful strokes before pulling out, spilling onto her belly. Their breathing came out heavy as he twitched a few times, sensitive to all forms of touch. Her squeezing had done him in, but he knew there was nothing bad in it. And now that he had done sex with emotion behind it, he knew what the warmth was, and he knew what it would bring in the future.

She watched him fall back in exhaustion, staring at his chest as it rose and fell. She frowned as he rolled off the bed to retrieve a towel from the bathroom, watching his backside as he left. "Did you mean it?"

He returned, holding out the white material for her. "I did."

"It wasn't the alcohol?"

"The Amber helped. Didn't it feel different?"

She smiled as she took the cloth to clean up their mess. "It did, yes." She reached up to gently cup his face as he sat behind her, content to just hold her for awhile. She leaned her head against his, lowering her gaze. "What happens now?"

"As I said, we keep this between us. No one has to know. It would be better if no one knew."

Her smile became sly. "So we are to fool both our families? Bad boy."

He laughed into her skin. "You're not any purer than I."

They fell into a comfortable silence, content to just sit there for awhile. She knew she would probably never get him to admit anything like that again, and so she was willing to take anything she could get. She frowned as her last few tugs of the Amber started to hit her and she fell back against him, unable to hold herself up. "I feel dizzy…"

"Just the alcohol, Love. You'll be fine." He glanced at the clock provided to each room, surprised to see it was so late in the night. Without a word he helped her under the sheets and retrieved a glass of water from the bathroom to keep it by her. He knew he shouldn't have let her take the bottle the last time, but he didn't see the harm in it when she had. By the time he slipped under the sheets with her, she was asleep, her breathing even and calm. He propped himself up on his elbow and studied her with his lips pressed in a fine line, trying to remember just when he had slipped up. He had always cared for her, even when they were children, but this… this was nothing like then. Even their shared moment under the stars did not compare.

It was more than a longing to be inside her, to be close to her. It was as if she couldn't be by his side, he would lose his mind. She had become his anchor when his days turned to shit, when he could turn to no one else to be reminded he was still loved by someone. He cursed his weak heart for allowing him to fall so far without realizing it. He wondered if the right course of action would be to turn her away, but he quickly dismissed the thought. Everything they did felt too right to even dwell on the idea. The banter, the intimacy, the mischief making, everything fit into place better than he thought they would when he teased her about her virginity over a year ago. He hadn't expected things to go so far for so long. In a way, he had to thank the dark elf for forcing them into seclusion. If the elf had not appeared, he would have dismissed the one good thing in his life. He laid close to her, intoxicated by her skin. She still smelled of the native flowers of Asgard but her taste… He couldn't get enough of her. His heart wanted more, but his body protested, having already claimed her three times that night. And he knew she needed to sleep off the alcohol. Her tolerance had gone up the past year, but she still couldn't match him.

He kissed her bare shoulder, still unsure of how to deal with himself, or with what would come. To anyone who asked, they would only have a simple arrangement for sex if stress became too much, as was their excuse if anyone bothered to ask before. The emotions would be their secret. How long they would continue their dance he was not sure, but he didn't want to dwell on the thought of losing her. What was unconventional to others worked for them, and he did not want to change a second of it.

As he drifted off to sleep, he listened to the crashing waves of the ocean below and realized he had left the door open the entire time they had been screaming into each other's skin. He cracked a grin and stifled his laughs, hoping she wouldn't realize they most likely woke their neighbors for the night with their cries of passion. With a great deal of effort, he dropped his hand to rest over her side and joined her in sweet unconsciousness.

* * *

><p>Dyre hissed as she woke up, feeling a dull pain in her head. Alcohol never agreed with her before, and last night changed nothing about that. She looked over, seeing the bed empty. The showerhead in the bathroom made her turn her attention to it, and she carefully got up to look. She tested the door and found it unlocked. She opened the door slowly, making absolutely no noise. With a mischievous smile, she twisted her wrist, changing the temperature of the water for just a moment, laughing as she heard his startled shout. She laughed even harder as he pulled the curtain aside to glare at her. "I'm sorry, Loki. I had to."<p>

He rolled his eyes while she let her hair fall from its usual half ponytail binding. "I was waking up slowly. Now thanks to you, I'm up." He grinned at her. "And since you're awake, I want you in here, right now."

"So you can douse me in cold water? I don't think so." She yelped as he phase shifted from the shower and grabbed her, shifting back into the tub. Almost immediately she felt the cold spray of the showerhead and she pushed against his chest, laughing. "Let go, you giant ass!"

He let the temperature return to normal, but did not retract his hold. "Do not attempt to prank your master. It will not work well."

"So it would seem." She gave up fighting his grip and instead accepted it, feeling the warm water soak into her skin. "Must we return today?"

"I could not sneak away for longer. Though I would like nothing more than to stay here and fuck you until you begged for mercy."

She let out a soft laugh. "I know you would." He smile fell. "Will we need to continue sneaking around?"

"Yes. It is how it must be."

"Even though we—"

"It doesn't matter what was said. When I said it changes nothing, I meant nothing. We will still need to steal time to be intimate. That's the downfall of having a secret life."

She sighed and pulled away. "If that is how it must be, then it will stay that way."

"For now. There is no telling what the future will bring." They bathed in silence, stealing kisses here and there. Neither felt in the mood enough to do much more.

* * *

><p>They snuck in to the palace through a few side entrances upon their return to Asgard. He only hoped that, if their absence was noticed, it did not raise any alarms. They reached her room first and from the looks of it, no one noticed they were gone all night. He stood in her doorway, arms crossed, watching her hide the bottle of Amber in her nightstand. "This is where we part for now."<p>

She nodded, clearing her throat as she stood. "I know preparations for the coronation in two months will take some time. How has he been with Mjolnir?"

"His training is rocky, but Tyr is certain he will get better in a matter of weeks." He waited for her to approach him before he took her hand in his. "I will see you the moment I can."

She smiled. "Don't keep me waiting."

"Never." He retreated down the hall, hearing the click of her latch behind him. It had all been worth it. Even as he was reprimanded by Thor for being late to practice, he would not have changed a thing. The usual jabs thrown out by the Warriors Three did not affect him that day, which Thor did not fail to notice.

Thor took his brother aside, dropping his voice. "You are in unusually good spirits. What has happened?"

"Nothing at all. I just don't find the taunting effective. They're losing their touch, it would seem." He tried to resume sharpening his remaining daggers, but Thor would not drop it.

"I tried to find you last night to see how you faired once you were healed. I could not find you nor Dyre anywhere. What happened?"

Loki rolled his eyes and tossed the dagger on the table in front of him housing his other ones for the moment. "Don't you have other matters to attend to than my personal life?"

"I am only concerned. I know you continue to sleep with her despite my warnings to end it. I wish to know if she is being treated well."

He felt a snap of anger break through his good mood. "Do you honestly think I treat her so horribly? If I did, why would she continuously come back? Why would she allow me into her bed?" He eyed his brother cautiously, still being careful where he tread. He checked his tone. "Listen and listen well, I do not do anything she does not consent to. I would die before I hurt her. I know she is your friend as well, but you must trust me when I say I— I don't want her hurt." He caught himself, knowing he had almost told the truth to his brother.

Thor studied him for a moment longer before nodding. "I will hold you to that." He left him alone to return to his friends, allowing the god of mischief to let out a sigh of relief. It would take effort to keep himself from telling the truth if he was to be harassed by his brother. True his past encounters with women did not help his cause, but he had hoped that staying with the same one for over a year would make Thor back off.

He stared at the daggers he still had to sharpen. His reputation did not help him either. All his life he had been calm, calculating, always thinking a few steps ahead, mainly to avoid getting caught. He knew nothing would change between he and Dyre, but at the same time, much would. In public they could keep up the appearance of just good friends that occasionally found themselves in each other's beds. In private, they would have something only they knew about and that they could be in a lot of trouble for it they were caught. He tapped a dagger against the wood of the table, staring at nothing in particular. He could hear a phantom of a whisper in his ear, her voice, calming him down. However, the phantom went further back, making him close his eyes to see it.

"_Thor has told me what you have done to Eir's daughter. Is it true?"_

_He licked his lips and nodded, eyes widened in fear at facing his father. _

"_I have had no quarrels with your extended friendship. I like the girl well enough, and her father is one of my best hunters, not to mention her mother's talents in alchemy." Odin stared down at his son. "But you as an Odinson, as a prince of Asgard, must learn your place. It is not between the legs of a young medicine woman."_

_He looked away finally, his heart sinking as he knew his father's words to be true. When he spoke, his voice was soft. "Father, I love her."_

"_You only believe you do. You have been together for all your lives. It is only natural you would believe you would feel something more." Odin shook his head and sat in his throne, holding his staff firm. "I'm aware Andren has ordered her to stay away from you and Thor from now on. He believes she is too old to be friends with young men. I agree with him."_

_He remained silent, keeping his gaze to the floor. _

_Odin's tough façade broke as he looked upon his son. "Loki, I am only looking out for you. A prince cannot marry a medicine woman."_

"_I know I can't."_

"_Common women must be pure upon their wedding days."_

"_I know."_

"_Nothing could come from a relationship with her." He loosened the grasp on his staff. "For your sake, put an end to your emotions. No good will come from it."_

He had forgotten for so long that he had loved her once before, but it had been stopped before it could bloom. Before he had even reached an age where he could understand the emotion. He had learned his lesson ages ago, and so knew to never tell Thor his intentions. So long as Odin believed Dyre asked for it, and continued to do so, he could do nothing more. It had been her choice to agree to lose her virginity to him, and they were older this time around. Odin could only have a say if he knew about the progression of the relationship. He looked to Thor, in the process of being reprimanded by Sif, and wondered what it would be like to have a public relationship. His rational mind said nothing but trouble, but he still wanted to know. He collected his daggers, both the sharp and unsharpened ones and replaced them in his jacket. He ignored his brother's inquiry of where he was going and returned to the hallway that kept both his and her chambers. He stalked past his own and stopped before hers, pausing with his hand over the latch. Without a second thought he opened it, seeing her reading on her bed.

Dyre frowned, looking up from her book and hooking her loose black hair behind her ear. "I thought you'd be gone all day."

"My place is here right now." He closed the door behind him and knelt over her body, plucking the book from her grasp and tossing it to the side. She didn't protest, only accepted his advances, and pulled his lips to hers. Everything felt right with the world again. Even it was to be just for a small time, or a longer amount, he felt right where he belonged. The jabs, the insults, the insinuations, none of it mattered. All that mattered was right beneath him. If she was to be all he had in his world to keep himself from murdering everyone for testing his patience, he could deal with it. Thor could believe what he wanted. So long as they knew the truth, it didn't matter if anyone else knew. He paused only to stare into her eyes before he started their kiss again, more frantic, more passionate. Nothing else mattered, and for once, he was glad nothing did.


	8. I Still Need That

Approximate time: During chapter 18, a few hours prior to the coronation in "Thor".

* * *

><p>The morning of the coronation snuck up on him. Loki was up with the sun, shifting slowly off the mattress as to not wake his bedmate. She did not have to be awake as early as he. He pulled his pants over his bare legs and stood, his gaze traveling over the other body in his bed. He restrained the urge to run his hands over her exposed shoulder. He shook his head to clear it and retreated to his washroom, not seeing her open her eyes and roll over, holding the sheet to her chest.<p>

He did everything had to do to look presentable for the coronation. Though it was not his day, all involved had to wear their full armor in respect. He reentered his chambers, barely noticing he wasn't the only one awake. "Did I wake you?"

"Yes, but its fine. No harm done."

He attached a holster to his thigh, slipping a few of his daggers in place. He had left his armor out the night before, wanting to put it on physically instead of shifting them on as he usually did. He frowned as he saw one piece missing. "Dyre, have you seen my helmet?"

"Seen? This thing is hard to miss."

He turned around to see her kneeling on his bed, one of his button up shirts thrown on her still naked body. In her hands she held his helmet by the horns, and she locked her gaze with his, a smile playing on her lips. He felt his own go dry, making his tongue subconsciously wet them again. "I need that."

"Come and get it then, boy."

He laughed a bit. "Boy? Am I to believe you want to be in charge this morning?" Her only response was a finger curling towards her, indicating he should go back to bed. "Didn't I do enough last night?"

"That was then." She held the helmet over her shoulder loosely in a teasing manner. "You'll have to come here to get it."

He wanted nothing more than to shirk his duties as Thor's brother, one of the family, Prince of Asgard, and play hooky, sinking his flesh into hers until they could take it no more. With a sigh he approached the bed. "I don't have time for this, Love. I need that."

"I'll give it back if you let me do this once." She smirked. "You've enjoyed it in the past."

"I haven't been pressed for time in the past." He kneeled on the bed next to her, lowering his gaze to the swell in her chest visible in the open buttons of his shirt. "What would you even do if I gave you the chance?"

She arched her brow and tossed the helmet behind her, pushing his shoulders until he laid flat on his back. They both ignored the clang of the gold against his stone floors. Before he could protest she straddled his hips and held down on his arms. He could have thrown her off at any time, he was fully aware, but his curiosity got the better of him. In his head he validated the distraction in his duties, making sure he would still have enough time to walk in with his brother as he was supposed to do. He felt her hands rise up his arms as she gauged his reactions. "Sit up for a moment, Loki."

He did as asked, his curiosity reaching its peak. He let her do as she pleased, holding his arms behind his back. He was surprised, however, when he couldn't move them back as she pulled away from him. He narrowed his eyes. "What did you do?"

"The binding spell you taught me. Though this time, you're the test subject." She still remained straddled over his lap, and she could feel his arousal through his pants. "It would seem you enjoy it though."

He couldn't answer as she covered his lips with hers, and could only moan against her skin as she began to rock her hips, pushing against him in all the ways he needed. His legs began protesting the way he was kneeling, but she was relentless. Her hands wandered over his body, leaving him drunk with lust. He briefly wondered how this time would feel. The rare times she had wanted to be dominant, it was before they had broken the rules of their "no strings attached" arrangement. For two months now, the normal sex had risen from mind blowing to what he could only describe as transcendental. Just her touch left him intoxicated, wanting more. And when he would bury himself inside her it was as if they were in Valhalla. He felt her nudge at his shoulders and he laid back, a little uncomfortable from the angle of his arms.

Without a word she pulled one of the daggers from his holster and ran the dull edge over his skin. The cold metal sent shivers down his spine, along with the sudden realization she was pressing a deadly weapon to his flesh. He only responded harder to her kiss, allowing her access past his lips, feeling her tongue dance with his. Thor, the coronation, the whole realm could do without him if he didn't show up. He wanted to be no where else but there.

She left his lips to leave his waist, letting him straighten his legs out. He hadn't realized how much blood flow he had been restricting until then. She unfastened his pants and he raised his hips to let her take them off entirely. She tossed them to the side, his daggers falling from the holster to land on the stone with his helmet. She pulled her hair over her shoulder and ran her hands up his legs, lowering her body to place a long lick to his silky hard shaft. His head fell back with a soft moan and he clenched his eyes shut to enjoy her motions. When her hands reached his firm cock, she held him in place with one hand, using the other to help stroke him.

She twisted her hand as she bobbed her head, and he hissed each time she passed over his tip. He clenched his teeth as a wave of pleasure passed over him, wanting to hold off his release. "Harder." He flinched as he felt a pinch on his leg and she let out a chuckle that made him shiver.

"Ah-ah, Love, you don't make that call."

If he were to have found himself in the same situation with anyone else, he would have called off the whole thing and sent her away. Instead, he let out a groan as she continued, hitting all the right spots. He looked on in surprise as she pulled off him completely and he felt her weight shift on the mattress. Her legs parted around his shoulders and he leaned up, greedily latching on to her lower lips as if it contained the nectar of the gods. At her taste, he wouldn't have been surprised if it did.

She pulled the shirt open further, and held her folds open to him, letting him see just what he was doing. His tongue delved inside her, lapping up all traces of her essence. Her scent left him on a sort of high, leaving him wanting more. He swirled his tongue around her clit and sucked on it, pulling it between his teeth to tease it further, making her cry out for him. She leaned against the grand wooden headboard, giving herself a stable thing to help hold her up as he relentlessly teased her sex. "D-don't stop. Right there."

His tongue was growing tired fast but he ignored it. He pulled it back to his mouth to coat it before resuming his ministrations on her. Her moans became mewls as she came closer to her climax. If his hands were free he could have brought her over her limit within seconds, but he enjoyed the challenge. He heard her let out a long curse and he smiled into her skin.

"It's too good. I'm coming. I'm—" She squealed his name as she came, and her fingers instinctively drew out her own orgasm, inadvertently making him grow harder at the sight. By the time she shifted her hips to his waist his cock was standing at attention on its own, waiting to be thrust into her body.

Before the effects of her orgasm could fade, she sank on to him, making them both let out a simultaneous moan, showing that this was what they wanted, what they both needed. She sat still, trying to catch her breath, and he waited patiently, knowing she was still in charge. He hissed as she tightened around him without even moving, making his hips jerk into her against his will. If she counted it as disobedience, she didn't show it. "What would my mistress have me do?" he said, challenging her in a way to keep to her act. He wasn't expecting the lithe hand around his throat, applying a fair bit of pressure. While she kept her grip she started to move, leaving his head reeling. It was a sensation he had never felt before, and wasn't sure if he liked it.

As if she could sense his discomfort she let go of his throat and braced herself on his chest. She tossed her head back, squirming as she thrust against him. However, she found it wasn't enough. She could only move so fast and hard. He could move faster and harder. "I need you," she said around her moans, her nails biting into his chest. "Fuck me hard and fast."

It was one command he could willingly give. He shifted his legs for stability and, with his arms still bound, began outpacing her thrusts, shoving himself in as hard as he could, making him grunt against the rise in pressure. He gave a breathy laugh as she lost her balance and leaned over his body, crying out against his neck. "Mm, I see you like when I fuck you senseless, don't you?"

She bit his shoulder, reminding him of his place for now. And to muffle her growing screams of passion. Her body would freeze as the orgasm washed over her, and no sooner did she start thrusting again did she climax again. Over and over it happened until each climax was met with a squeal. She gave up trying to keep up and instead claimed his lips with hers, sliding her tongue along his. She pulled back and sucked his lower lip between her teeth, biting down gently. Her nails dug in to the sheets, her body hitting its limits.

A wave of pleasure washed over his vision, almost tempting him to slow his pace. Instead he kept to her wishes, pumping into her with vicious need. He had lost count on her climaxes, though with how tight she kept squeezing every few seconds, he knew she couldn't handle much more. She pressed her chest to his as she leaned over and nipped his ear lobe. The shock did him in. "Fuck, Dyre, I can't—"

She knew what he meant and the instant he pulled out she reached down and let him use her hand to finish him off. He released with a loud growl, his head falling back against the sheets as he tried catching his breath. Dyre twisted her wrist and released the bindings holding his arms in place, letting him rest for a moment. She laid beside him and kissed him softly, staring into his eyes as both their chests slowed down. "I love you."

"And I you." Once certain he could breathe normally again he got out of bed to look for all the pieces of his armor, as well as something to clear off his chest. The daggers had fallen out of the holster but they didn't fall far. Once his pants were back in place he also replaced the holster. He had her help him with some parts of the armor, especially when he had to attach the cape. The only piece missing again was his helmet. He turned around, seeing her holding on to it. "I do need that this time. No exceptions."

She met his smile. "I know." She watched him put it on and admired his figure in the full armor. "So regal." She looked down at herself still clothed in his shirt from before. "It seems I have some catching up to do."

"You have some time yet." He watched her walk away to gather her dress from the night prior. He frowned at a passing thought. "Why did you use my dagger?"

She looked back at him with a small smirk. "Makes things more interesting when you introduce danger. Not that I would cut you on purpose."

His gaze lingered as she tossed the shirt to the side and put the dress on in its place. "If you like danger so much, I may turn my daggers on you next time then."

She gave a purr as she pulled her hair out of her green dress. "You know I'd like it too much."

He wanted to respond, but his nerves gave a lurch as he realized just how much time had passed. "I need to meet Thor to make sure he is escorted properly. That took a little more time than I would have liked."

She frowned slightly. "It was worth it, wasn't it?"

"You haven't the slightest idea." He tugged her into a scorching kiss, sending both of their minds in a fog. He pulled away reluctantly. "I'd love for nothing more than to stay in here with you all day. However I have duties to see to."

She rolled her eyes and pushed at his shoulder. "Go do them then. I'm fine to walk the few meters to my room. The trick will be getting there before Mother finds me leaving your chambers."

"Ah, yes, that could be a bit problematic." He motioned for her to follow him out into the hallway. Once sure it was clear, he sent her on her way to change. His smile faded as he watched her enter her room down the hall. He only hoped what he had set in motion for the day would not hurt her in any way. His intentions were to teach his brother a lesson and to prove he was not ready to rule. If all went well, he would be able to bring that fact to the surface. He retreated the opposite way, going to meet with Thor, regretting nothing of what he had set in motion.


	9. What Do You See?

Approximate time: Three weeks before chapter 18 and "Thor".

* * *

><p>It had been a stupid move on his part. He struck when he should have dodged, resulting in Fandral's sword cutting a gash into his cheek. His head had not been in battle. Not with his brother's coronation fast approaching, and not with the distractions of his personal life.<p>

He pulled the cloth he had received from his brother away from his cheek, seeing it coated in red. He pressed it back and entered the double doors on his right. "I hope you're not— What on Asgard are you holding?"

Dyre turned around from stirring something in a bowl on the back table, a tired look on her face. Propped up on her hip was a small child, no older than half a year by the looks of it. "Mother had a lovely surprise waiting for me when I came here this morning. One of her friends had this child not too long ago, and needed time away from it. So, she volunteered me to watch it without regard for my feelings on the matter." She set her spoon down and shifted the child further up her hip. "Every time I put her down, she shrieks. I've had to do everything one handed today." She threw her free hand in the air. "What do I know about children?"

The whole time he had been distracted by how… suitable the look was on her. He shook his head. "So far as I know, not much. However, the role of mother looks good on you."

"Don't make me throw something at you. The only thing it could be is this child, and I doubt Magda would appreciate her daughter being turned into a projectile." She seemed to finally notice the cloth and her expression changed entirely. "Oh no. Loki, what did you do now?"

"I did nothing. Fandral's sword did the damage."

She sighed and approached him. "Why is it I see you injured more and more these days?"

"How else can I see my doctor?"

Dyre rolled her eyes and motioned for him to lower the cloth. She tilted his chin, assessing the depth. "It is deep, but not too bad."

He caught the infant's eyes, and the little girl began to coo. "I wasn't lying, you know. The motherly look suits you."

She shrugged and summoned healing energies to her fingers. "If it happens, it happens. Hopefully not for awhile yet." She pressed her fingers to his cut and slowly ran it over his skin, mending the flesh perfectly. Once all indications of his injury were gone, she took the cloth and got rid of the excess blood. "You should be fine now." Without warning she took the child from her hip and placed her in his hands. "I'll clean the cloth. Just take her for a bit."

He had no idea what to do at first. He held the child away at arm's length for a moment, studying the thing in his hands. The child only smiled and giggled, clapping her chubby hands together.

Dyre smiled. "Seems she likes you."

"I don't see why."

"Oh, don't be like that. I like you."

"For obvious reasons."

She scoffed. "Other than that." She turned her back to him, holding the cloth under running water.

He slowly began to accept the child and held it closer. "What is her name?"

"Marine." She rung the cloth out and turned around with a frown, not really looking at him. "Stupid name, in my opinion."

He chuckled as Marine tried to grab his nose. "What would you have named her?"

"Don't laugh, but Kaia." She looked up, expecting at least a chuckle, but was surprised to hear none. Instead, she was taken with the sight. "You know, the look isn't so bad on you either. Who knows? You could be a good father one day."

His nerves seized. He didn't have the heart to tell her he had already sired a few children, and had no intentions of being a father to them. "Possibly."

They both looked to the door as it opened again, and the room was filled with chatter between Eir and Magda. "We should do this again soon, dear. You shouldn't be cooped up with the child all day long. Powers above, I know I almost went mad when Andren would leave me alone with Dyre!"

Dyre glared at her mother. "I wasn't a horrible child."

Eir only laughed. "My dear, you made me want to curl into a ball and cry some days, you were so stubborn like your father." Her attention finally focused on the other presence in the room, holding the child still. "It is good to see you again, Prince Loki. What brings you here?"

"I was wounded in training. I had to see my physician to heal it. In return I gained a child. Somehow." He handed Marine to her mother, who seemed shocked to be in the presence of one of the princes. "Though I would love to hear how much of a mischief maker Dyre was."

"Oh she was one of the worst! I remember one day she came in to the kitchen with a handful of shredded paper and just tossed it in my tea, as if it belonged there. I found out later on the paper was one of my patient's records!"

Dyre looked away, crossing her arms. "Yes yes, I was horrible. Fine."

"Oh that wasn't even the worst. You broke a fair few of my wedding gifts by throwing your toys around the room, for no reason at all. I'd hear a crash, followed by giggling."

Magda gasped. "How did you manage to keep going?"

"I kept telling myself it would be worth it in the end." Eir smiled at her daughter. "And it was." She took Dyre's hand. "When you have children, you'll feel the same way. In the end, it is worth it." She patted the hand. "We just have to find you a nice man first."

Dyre cleared her throat and took her hand back. "Do you still need me to go into town for supplies?"

"Oh, yes, that would be wonderful."

"I'll escort you," Loki said, feeling just as uncomfortable as Dyre. "I would like to acquire a few things myself."

Dyre nodded and took her basket, as well as the coin purse her mother handed her. Without another word the two left the women and child in the healing room.

"So shall we find you a nice man while we're in the commons?"

She shoved his arm. "I already found a nice man."

"Really? You should let me meet him some time."

This time she hit him with the basket as they roamed the halls. "I'm sorry you had to hear all that. Mother's been going baby crazy ever since Magda brought Marine over a few weeks ago. Seems to think I'm suddenly ready for children."

"And are you?"

"Not in the slightest. The very thought of chasing around a child terrifies me. The pregnancy itself, not so much."

"You seemed fine with the child."

She shrugged. "I think it's different. Marine is not mine, and so I don't have a reason to worry about her." She looked down at the basket. "It's a scary thing, creating life. Knowing that you're making something that will be with you the rest of your life, or the rest of its life." She shook her head. "I suppose having someone there with you to raise it makes it easier, but with how often my father was gone, it was usually just my mother and myself. And yes, I was a wild child before I even met you and Thor."

"Probably why you fell victim to my seductive charms then."

She met his grin and nudged his hip with hers. "That could have something to do with it." They fell into a comfortable silence, walking a good distance apart to keep up the appearance of only friends. Once they reached the commons, they preyed on various victims, causing chaos in their wake.

They came across a cow and her calf, about to be sold off to auction. The calf was taken from its mother and began to cry out. The sound alone drew Dyre's attention to it, and her gaze grew sad when she understood what was happening. "The calf is too young to understand, isn't it?"

"Unfortunately he's the right age to be sold off on his own," her companion answered, not as concerned as she. "Young males need to learn to fend for themselves at an early age, despite the species. Cattle are no different. The only question now is if they'll use him for breeding or for meat. And if for meat, for now, or later when he's older." He noticed her looking away. "You can terrorize your people, but you can't stand the thought of an animal being led to slaughter?"

"A babe can't defend itself. An Asgardian can."

"But you eat meat. I've seen you."

"I didn't kill it."

Her tone of voice said to drop it as she turned away from the calf still crying for its mother. With an effort of will Loki sent his magic to the calf, giving it an extra burst of strength. It managed to pull away from the man holding its lead, kicking him in the stomach in the process. The crowd gathered around gasped in unison and panic ensued as the calf ran free, trying to find his mother that had already been taken away.

Dyre looked in time to see the calf decide which way to go. For some reason, it chose to go in her general direction. She was pulled out of the way by a strong grasp as the calf proceeded down the lane, destroying everything in its wake. She tilted her head to Loki, who still held a protective hand on her arm. "You let it go."

He shrugged and let her go so he could continue in the opposite direction of the calf. "I don't know what you mean."

"You did something nice for me."

"I did no such thing."

"You're acting like the charming boyfriend I know you can be."

"Don't push it." He grinned despite his words. "Now what did you need out here?"

"Herbs for Mother, and something for myself, actually."

"Is that so?"

She nodded, twirling her finger as they passed a stand selling ceramics. A display table went from four legs to three, tipping over immediately. "I needed a new dress, and I saved up for a nice one to be made."

He mentally applauded her for her growing talents while the vendor cried over his shattered wares. "You'll have to show me later."

"Give me a good reason to wear it and I will." She looked at him curiously. "What do you need from here?"

"Nothing at all. I thought I would give your mother a logical excuse to escort you in to town."

Her happy mood faded slightly. "This is going to be a difficult relationship, isn't it? We have to lie just to see each other."

"Sits fine with me." He held off on carrying the conversation further as she stopped to purchase a few herbs from a vendor. It would be a difficult one, he knew it. It wasn't even one he had wanted. She was changing in all the right ways. Right to him, anyway. She loved causing trouble, seeing the misfortune of others. She did care about healing her people, but she cared more about the chaos first. He had to grin as she had the vendor turn around to fill her basket. When he did she used her magic to take back the money. By the time it was safely tucked away, the vendor had her herbs ready. As if she had done nothing at all, she thanked the man and took her leave. "You naughty little minx."

"He copped a feel as I was giving him an examination last week." She counted it all, making sure she took it all back.

"I don't think you could raise a daughter with the name Kaia, not with how you steal."

"Spare me. And why not?"

"You are far from pure of heart, Love."

"Well, Darling, I learned from the best."

He stepped in front of her, walking backwards as he pulled a look of mock hurt. "Are you calling me a thief?" He smiled and held up a finger. "You only know the half of it."

She met his grin. "Oh do I? I only know half of your thievery, your tricks, your lies, and your illusions? I only know half of the chaos you have the potential to cause?" He stopped short and she jabbed at his chest. "I know more than you think."

He chuckled and allowed her to resume her pace, taking his place at her side again. "I suppose so." He looked down an alleyway. "Do what you need to do. I've just thought of something to acquire."

She looked after him in curiosity before shrugging, resuming her path to the tailor.

* * *

><p>Dyre twirled around her room, looking in the floor-length mirror. She gripped on to part of the fabric, admiring the work put into the black garment. The emerald stitching was spot on and extremely intricate, and the fabric itself was of the finest quality. When she said she had been saving, she had been saving for almost a year. Her smile slowly faded and she dropped the corner of her dress. The design itself was still simple compared to what she had seen on some of the failed suitresses Odin had brought in for his sons. She was living in a palace where a dress that she bought could be bought within a mere few weeks for any of the other inhabitants.<p>

She looked at her reflection, feeling extraordinarily plain. She wasn't like any of the other women she had seen in the halls. She didn't know how to make her cosmetics look perfect, nor did she know how to make her hair sit in just the right way. She didn't know how to be stiff and catty. She stood a bit taller as the thought sunk in. Out of all the beautiful suitresses sent his way, Loki had turned them all away without a second thought. It was true, she was nothing like the other women, and she was prouder for it.

"Mm, it is a lovely dress."

She jumped and turned around, a hand to her chest, where the dress sloped down just enough to show a bit of cleavage. "You sneaky devil."

"Of course." He approached her, running his hands up the long sleeves of the dress. "Turn for me." He nodded in appreciation as she did as asked. "It seems like it's missing something though."

Her face fell. "It's the best I can do. I can't afford the nicer things like those other women."

He scoffed. "If I wanted perfect and prim I'd marry one of those atrocious beasts my father calls women." He made her face the mirror, keeping a strong grip on her arms. "Why would I do something like that when you're too much fun?" He tilted her chin so she would look at their reflections. "What do you see?"

"Myself?"

"What about yourself?"

"I-I don't know. I have black hair? Blue eyes?"

A soft chuckle left him. "That's all?" He reached into his pocket, pulling out a silver chain.

"It's all I see." She frowned. "You'd settle down?"

He rolled his eyes. "You're missing the point, and no, not willingly." He pulled her hair behind her shoulders and put the chain around her neck, letting a small emerald sit above her neckline. "Do you know what I see?"

She almost forgot how to talk as she touched the gem. "What?"

"I see a confident woman who is not afraid to speak her mind. One who is not afraid of the spells she is learning to use. A clever woman who can keep up with my tricks, and is willing to hide me away when an illusion goes wrong."

She chuckled as she remembered a time he hid in her room under the bed as Thor angrily looked for him. The younger sibling hadn't helped his case by teasing her while she knelt on the opposite side. He had said he couldn't resist having a taste of her. She was just glad she had learned how to hide her pleasure. "Is that really what you see?"

"Of course. Why would I lie to you?"

She gave his reflection an incredulous look.

"Besides the fact I'm a liar by habit." He pulled on the strings holding the dress securely around her torso. Once it was loosened, he rested his hands on her hips, slowly hiking her dress up. "Look again. What do you see?"

She bit her lip as more and more skin was revealed. "Well toned legs from staying on my feet all day."

"Mm, very well toned. What else, love?"

"There are a few scars from when we were younger."

"Which only means you are not afraid of being… physical." He bit her ear and lowered his voice as the dress reached her hips. "What else?"

She knew what he wanted to hear, and instead focused on something else. "I have wide hips."

"They feel narrow to me. Just wide enough for when you start bearing children."

She scoffed. "Children? Wouldn't one be enough?"

"It would be a start."

"As if you want them."

He went silent for a moment, pulling the fabric up more. "I'd take responsibility of one eventually. We aren't done yet." He let his index fingers trail along her skin as he pulled further, feeling her shiver. "What more?"

She took in her bared skin, kept smooth and void of hair. "There's a slight pudge in my belly."

"Any thinner and I would think you didn't eat." He let the dress rest above her breasts. "And these?"

She was starting to give in to his light touches. "Just the right size, I would think. They don't stand out, but they still exist." She let out a slight moan as he grasped them softly. "And you seem to like them."

He chuckled in her ear. "Very much so." He pulled the dress over her head and tossed it to the floor. "Now let me tell you what I see." He used his legs to spread hers and trailed his fingers around the sensitive flesh between her legs. He laughed at her light mewls. "I see a woman who is able to please me with just the sight of her body." He pressed his hips against her, giving himself a small wave of delight. His fingers slipped over her sensitive bud, making her moan. "Whose sounds as I give her bliss no other man could give ring in my ears give me a rush like no other."

Her eyes closed and she reached up to cup his cheek, leaning her head back with a delighted purr. "There are no men like you." She sighed as his fingers slipped again. "What else do you see?"

"I think I've told you enough for now." He made her look at their reflections again. "I want you to watch while your master brings you pleasure." He deliberately slipped over her slit again, starting to focus on her clit. She immediately squirmed in his grasp. "Mm, you're already so wet. Does watching yourself turn you on?"

"Y-yes."

He gripped on to her throat tight enough to cause a bit of discomfort. "Yes, what?"

"Yes, Master. It does."

"Much better." He quickened the strokes of his fingers, still keeping the pressure on her throat. Any time she closed her eyes he squeezed. His slacks were getting tighter to an almost painful point. He could feel her breath straining beneath his grip. In a way, he had never felt a rush of power like that. With a minimal effort of will he could snap her neck, could suffocate her, could kill her. Instead her pleasure grew with her cries. "How badly do you need me, Dyre?"

"I need you, Master." Her body gave a slight shake and her breath hitched for a moment. "Don't stop, please."

He chuckled against her ear, sending a shiver down her spine. "I'd never do that, pet. I love hearing you scream for me too much." He could tell from her short cries she was almost at her peak. "That's it. Don't hold back." He took his hand from her throat and opened his slacks, almost moaning at the feeling of freedom. He stroked himself as he brought her to her limit, easing a bit of his own tension. Her body quivered again and she gave out a sharp cry as she hit her peak. Without missing a beat he adjusted his posture and shoved himself inside her tight walls, forcing her to bend over and grip the sides of the mirror. "Now it's my turn."

She gripped the frame tightly and attempted to meet his strokes. She wanted him harder, wanted to tease him. "You feel so good, Master. Keep filling me up."

He gave a dark laugh and leaned over her, pressing against her back. "Whatever my pet wants, especially when you ask like that." He held on to her hips, giving him better leverage. With each thrust she was pulled backward sharply, sending both their heads reeling.

Her eyes kept falling to the mirror, fascinated with how he could make her expression change with just a simple rough roll of his hips. The looks she made would have embarrassed her if they were made in public for others to see, but in private, it was an intimate secret only they shared. She looked to his reflection and a shock of pleasure tore through her at his own expression. All of his concentration was set to making them both feel good, and he made no secrets of how he felt. She leaned back only a bit and immediately felt an increase in pressure. Her cries became short and loud as he hit something in her with each thrust. She couldn't handle it all. Her climax hit her hard enough to render her speechless. All she could do was let her head fall back and give a high moan as she tightened around him.

He slowed his pace as she began to loosen around him. If he had kept the speed he was going, he wouldn't have lasted long. He had been so turned on by exploring every inch of her he had been close to the edge as it was. It would be a short night, but at least he could make it end nicer than having her pressed against her mirror. "I think we should take this elsewhere." He pulled out of her warmth and let her stand straight again once she found her legs. "Wait for me on your bed."

She did as asked, wondering why she would have to wait. As she laid out on her stomach, she watched as he began stripping down to nothing.

He couldn't help but notice her stares as he tossed his shirt to the side. "Like what you see?"

She purred in response. "Very much. Don't keep me waiting long, Master."

Once as bare as she he joined her on the bed, letting her roll over to her back before he knelt over her. "Where were we?"

Her legs wrapped around his hips, pulling him closer. "Around here, weren't we?"

"Ah yes. Now I remember." He filled her up again, loving her sharp gasp as he pushed in deep. He wasn't immune and let out a low moan of his own. She wasn't the only one who felt good when they joined together. It was the only time he felt like he could be himself completely. He didn't have to be afraid to let go, or to speak his mind. He resumed his pace from before, pinning her arms over her head. He groaned as she tightened around him and matched his strokes. "I won't last if you keep doing that."

She grinned at him. "That's the plan."

"If that's the case…" He caught her lips with hers, quickening his strokes, and increasing their pleasure. Her arms wrapped around his back and her nails took purchase in his skin as she tightened almost painfully around him. His free hand gripped under her thigh, feeling like he needed to pull her closer. He knew she didn't like when he came inside, but it was unavoidable. His climax hit him too suddenly to pull out. With a guttural moan against her lips he rode it out in her, continuing to roll his hips against her until he was completely spent. They pulled apart, trying to catch their breath.

She slicked back some of his hair that had fallen loose. "You know what I see?"

"Hm?"

"I see a man willing to do anything for those that he loves. Someone who does care about more than causing chaos."

He chuckled, still calming down. "Those are completely circumstantial. Only a handful of people know that about me."

"Same for me, I bet." A quick glance out her bedroom window reminded her of the time. "It's a bit late, isn't it?"

"I can stay for awhile yet." He slipped out of her warmth and rolled over while she did the same, letting her press her back to his chest. "Sorry for the mess, by the way."

"Too tired to care right now." She intertwined their fingers as he wrapped an arm over her side. "How long will you stay tonight?"

"Until you fall asleep. Your dress was quite lovely, by the way."

"Really? I thought you would find it plain."

"You know I don't like complicated garments. I'd hate to rip something you saved so long for."

She touched the gem with her free hand, glancing at it with tired eyes. "Thank you for the gem. I love it. It will be hard to explain where it came from, though."

"Save it for special occasions."

She pressed into her pillows, finding them too comfortable to stay awake. "Why do you stay with me? I know you say I'm fun to be around, but why not give in to your father's wishes and marry one of those ghastly women he brings in?"

"It's the same as what I told you months ago: Why would I seek someone else out when you're such a wildcat in more than just the bedroom?" He shifted a bit to get more comfortable. "Besides, I'm not the marrying sort. I'm the younger prince; I don't really have to find a wife."

"And if you had to?"

He fell quiet, knowing he had no answer for her. He knew she cared for the subject just as much as he did. However, it was still a haunting thought if he were ever forced into marriage. "I'd still share a bed with you."

"You couldn't."

"I could and I would." He let out an exasperated sigh and leaned over her body, catching her eye. "Who else can I really have fun with in this entire kingdom? Sex is sex, but it doesn't mean anything if I can't connect with the other person. I've had meaningless sex before, and I'd rather not have to do it again." He paused, letting her absorb his words. "Really, I'm not lying."

"I know you're not." She closed her eyes and succumbed to her pillow again. "We'll just keep this quiet for the rest of the time it lasts."

Her words stung, but they held truth. He was a prince, she was a medicine woman turned sorceress. He was royalty, and she was not. They could continue seeing each other only in secret, despite the fact they had confessed to wanting to be more than friends just over a month prior. It was how things were, and how they were meant to be. So long as they kept the relationship going, it had to remain a secret. Before he could carry the conversation further, he realized she had fallen asleep. He took his hand back and redressed himself as quietly as he could. Just as silent he left her room, not looking around before he left.

"I had a feeling this was happening."

He froze in place as his mother's voice rang out in the hall. He looked to see he hadn't refastened his shirt.

"How long?"

Knowing he was caught, he turned his gaze to his mother, repressing the urge to flinch at her unreadable features. Her fingertips were pressed together in front of her, her long sleeves hovering just above the ground. "Just about a year."

Frigga nodded, studying her son. "And do you love her?"

To anyone else he would have kept up the lie they had lived for almost a year and say no. "Yes."

"I see." She took a few steps forward. "You realize nothing can come from this, don't you?"

He cast his gaze away and nodded.

She stopped when she was right in front of him. "I had wondered why you cast aside all the women your father brought to the palace. Now it all makes sense."

"I'm sorry, Mother."

She held up a hand, a small smile on her face. "We cannot control who we love. If she makes you happy, stay with her."

He looked at her in shock. "What?"

"I'm not your father. I don't believe everything he does. However, under his laws, nothing can come from it. Nothing public, anyway." She gave him a warm smile. "Stranger things have happened. With how close you two were as children, I suppose this outcome was inevitable."

"You won't tell Father?"

"Odin does not need to know of everything that happens in his realm."

He grinned at his mother's retreating back. While his father always doted on Thor while they were growing up, Frigga was always there to comfort him. He frowned. "Why were you down this hallway so late?"

"It isn't important anymore, I suspect. Go to bed, my son. It is indeed late. Can't have you roaming the halls so close to a young woman's chambers. People may start to say things."

He smiled at her lighthearted words as she left the hall. He reentered his room and shifted out of his clothes, finding himself too tired to bother undressing normally. With less time than it normally would take he fell asleep, feeling as if some sort of weight was lifted from his shoulders.

* * *

><p>Dyre, however, startled awake in her bed, a cold rush of dread filling her being. "Oh shit…"<p>

She had forgotten to take her tea that day.


	10. Loss

Approximate time: Four months after chapter 21 and after "Thor".

* * *

><p>Dyre shifted her basket of herbs, wandering the streets of Asgard's commons. The palace was too quiet, and far too many memories lied in the halls. When she wasn't feeling overly tired, or sick in the morning, she kept herself immersed in her work. She kept her condition from everyone but Thor. He was the only one left she could trust. The thunder god had needed good news after everything he had gone through.<p>

However, Dyre wasn't sure if it was good news or not. She had found out almost four months ago, but still didn't know if it was what she wanted. She didn't know if she could handle that sort of memory. She didn't know if she could look at her child, and not feel saddened by his loss. She wasn't even sure if she was ready to be a mother. Eir had said the maternal instincts would kick in soon, but that was a month prior. Dyre felt no love for the growth lying dormant in her belly. She only felt regret.

She stopped at a stand that sold a particular herb she was looking for to curb her nausea. She heard a conversation between two older women, thinking nothing of it. Women gossiped no matter what the age. She almost dropped her basket as the conversation turned familiar.

"Loki's child, that's right."

"Such a shame. I thought she was such a nice girl."

"I'm sure he used his silver tongue to coerce her into his bed."

Tears stung in her eyes and she blinked them away. The women had no idea she could hear them.

"Can you believe the nerve of the prince though? Knocking up the poor girl and then—"

"He probably didn't even know. With his habits, he was probably busy with several other women. Was probably too busy to notice."

Dyre gripped the wooden sales table hard as the herbalist gathered her wares. They had the gall to question what they didn't understand?

"_No one will understand what we have. Only we will know the truth. I do love you, Dyre. Do not think otherwise."_

She focused on the conversation again, her magic simmering under the surface.

"I pity her for having that burden placed upon her. The child will be born a bastard."

"Nothing can be done about that. We'll just have to hope it does not grow up to be like its father."

Dyre paid the herbalist with shaky hands and walked away, fighting back her tears. She looked back at the women, who finally turned their conversation elsewhere. They sat on a porch of their shop in wooden chairs, people watching most likely. Both were graying, round women, spinsters most likely. One leaned back in her chair, and the wood protested against her weight. Dyre let a grin slip and twisted her wrist. The back leg of the chair vanished and the woman fell backwards with a shriek.

Her smile quickly fell as their words hovered in her mind. Her shopping done for the day, she quickly returned to the palace, not stopping for anything.

* * *

><p>She intended to go right back to the healing room to fix herself a draught to ease her nausea. She was stopped by a passing guard who told her to look in on Thor. With a frown she did as asked, remembering her way to his chambers with ease. She knocked before entering and saw the man sitting up in his bed, a little paler than usual. "Are you feeling ill?"<p>

"In a way. I suppose you would feel this way from time to time."

She was confused for only a moment before her sadness returned. "Yes. But I've accepted there is nothing that can be done. He is alive somewhere. We can only hope he will return someday. As for yours… I'm not sure."

Thor nodded and got out of bed, staring out his open balcony. "How have you been feeling lately?"

"Tired, sore, fat. The usual." She set her basket down on the table next to his uneaten breakfast. "Though I was not expecting the news to travel to the public. I wonder how that got out, Thor."

He turned to her, clearly confused. "I've told no one of your condition. What do you mean the public knows?"

"Just as I said, they know. I-I heard two women talking about it."

"How do you know they meant you?"

"The first words I heard were 'Loki's child'. He was only with me before he left. He had no time to be elsewhere. Who else would it be?"

Thor flinched and sat on the couch as she did. "What did they say?"

She tried to talk, but an unexpected lump formed in her throat. She swallowed to try and push it away, only to feel it sting her as she tried. "Awful things," she said, hating how her voice cracked. Her eyes watered up and she blinked a few times, gathering her restraint. "That he-he coerced me to his bed, that he didn't care at all, that he only used me." She swallowed again. "That they pitied me because the child will be a bastard. That it will be a shame if it grows up to be like its father." She rubbed at her eyes. "I don't want this, Thor. I can't— I can't be a mother to his child."

The thunder god took her in his arms and let her break down. They hadn't been as close as they grew up compared to the bond she shared with his brother, but he still card for her, very much so. He hated seeing her hurting.

"What if he never comes back? I'll have the offspring to remind me of him every day. I can't do it."

"You can, Dyre. This is a life. A real life. Something you both created. Think of it as a good thing. You can tell the child stories of its father, of how he really was."

She leaned back in his grasp and shook her head. "No. I couldn't. You know how he was. Even with me he didn't have a heart of gold. He cared, yes, but he wasn't a changed man. He was a trickster, he was chaos. He loved this misfortune of others. Do not think that behind bedroom doors he was a different man."

Thor looked away. "I had assumed he loved you deeply. That things were different when you were alone."

"Not by much. The only difference was that I could strike back. Without my magic, I don't think I could have met his pace. He's a man who needs entertainment. Provide it, and he is easier to handle. If not, you will become his entertainment." She stood once Thor let go and she rubbed at her arms. "How can I dress up stories of him to make him seem like a hero when he wasn't?"

"He saved your life."

"Yes, but for a price." She stared out the open doors leading to his balcony. "You and I both know if he wasn't stuck in that house with me for the month this would have never happened. If I had not discovered my magical abilities, it would have never lasted this long. There would have been an occasional fling here and there when he felt like it, but that would have been it. I would have stood to the side as he took random women to bed, and he would have stood aside as I took men. He only took what was ripe for the taking."

"That isn't… entirely true."

"Then it is true for the most part." She looked back to Thor, ignoring a budding pain in her gut. She brushed it off as a strange form of nausea. "However, things did go how they did. But for the year I was with him, do you know how long it took for anything to come of it?"

He shook his head. "We had assumed you secretly loved each other from the time you came home, no matter how much you two denied it."

"It took ten months and a third of Asgardian Amber for anything to change. Children demand stories of romance on how their parents met, thinking it's something of magic." She gripped on to the back of the sofa as the pain hit her again. "How do I tell them 'Your father and I were sex friends for ten months before we stopped being stubborn jackasses and confessed we wanted to be more than friends'?" She started feeling a little shaky and gripped the sofa harder. "How do I tell them that their father was an opportunist?"

Thor started looking concerned. "Dyre, are you feeling alright?"

In fact, she wasn't. The pain hit her again. "I'm not sure." Her blood ran cold. "Something's wrong with the baby."

He was at her side in a second, holing her up. "Can you walk?"

"I-I don't know."

He hefted her into his arms and took her into the hallway. "We're going to see your mother."


	11. A Year Changes People

This is to be set immediately after the epilogue, and is meant to show Dyre's gradual descent into not caring if her magic hurts or heals her people. Also, it's meant for fluff n stuff. ... Lots of stuff.

Approximate time: Directly after "The Way Things Were" and "The Avengers".

* * *

><p>Dyre growled in frustration and sat up in bed, ignoring the drooping straps of her nightdress. She tried for hours to sleep in vain. Too many things prevented her from her goal. She bit at her thumb lightly in thought. She had convinced herself not long after her miscarriage that she hated him. She had pretended to have no lingering emotions for the man who had turned from her friend to her lover, to almost—<p>

She shook her head, staving off the thought. She pretended it didn't affect her, refused to let it show. If anyone asked how she was, she lied to their face for awhile, until she began believing her own lies. She began to progressively worsen in her spite. Her tricks and general use of magic grew, expanded by her own growing hatred for her people. They in turn spurned her, but not for the magic. Someone let slip of her relationship. And, due to what he had done before he surrendered to the abyss, they began to shy away from her. She had heard the whispers when she was gathering herbs and supplies.

"_Loki's child, that's right."_

"_Such a shame. I thought she was such a nice girl."_

"_I'm sure he used his silver tongue to coerce her into his bed."_

She had made one of the legs of the chair one of the women was sitting on vanish. The woman fell hard with a shriek of pain, and Dyre stalked away, fighting back her emotions.

She tossed the covers off her frame and slipped her long black robe over her matching nightdress. Without bothering to grab her slippers she snuck into the hall, keeping her footsteps silent. She had initially intended to take a quick walk around the palace to attempt to calm herself down. She had never known who had let the information slip, but whoever it was had never told the public that she had miscarried. Most of the public believed she had had the child and was stowing it away in the palace in some places. Others had morbid ideas that she had sold it to Hela in an attempt to bring the prince back. She shook her head, crossing her arms tightly over her chest. Nonsense, all of it. She hadn't been lying when she said she had nothing left.

Before she realized it, her feet had taken her to the entrance of the dungeons where two guards stood watch. "What brings you here, Miss Dyre?" one asked, keeping his weapon at the ready.

"I'm… not sure. I couldn't sleep. I'll be on my way." She walked away, turning a corner. With a focus of will she flicked her wrist towards where the guards stood. Within moments she heard the sound of bodies colliding with the floor. She looked around the corner and saw them both in a heap on the floor, fast asleep.

Without a second thought she tiptoed past them, taking the keys from one. She unlocked the door as quietly as she could and slipped inside, feeling no remorse for her actions. For the rest of the hallway she took to the shadows, hiding if she heard the hall guards coming towards her. Once they passed she flicked her wrist, making sure they would not discover the sleeping guards. At the end, she hid in a corner where the torchlight did not touch her. With another flick, she made the guards fall into the same sleep as the others. The keys from the first guard fit into the lock perfectly. Still without caring of what she was doing she slipped inside of the cell.

* * *

><p>Loki heard the click of a latch and frowned. It was far too late for the guards to be bringing him anything at all. He was shocked to see Dyre slip in, not meeting his gaze as she carefully closed the door behind her. "What on Asgard are you doing here so late?"<p>

She stood firm, something he was not accustomed to seeing much from her. "I just put six guards under using a sleeping spell, and you ask what I'm doing here?"

"Well, yes." For the first time in ages he felt a sort of panic. "You need to get out of here. You'll be in a lot of trouble if you're caught."

She smirked. "You're only in trouble if you get caught. I won't."

"How can you be so sure? Asgardian guards are no pushovers. You're only a woman who knows basic spells."

She only cocked a brow in response. "Am I?"

He was surprised to feel his wrists stick together by an invisible force and another held him back against the wall his cot was attached to. He felt his blood begin to boil. "I see a year changes a person."

"It depends on the year." She sauntered up to the cot and straddled his legs, making him wet his dry lips. The forces removed themselves and he immediately ran his shackled hands up her thighs, almost unable to contain himself. Had it really been a year since he had taken her last? Since he had felt a loving embrace? He checked himself and held his hands in place. "Is something wrong?"

"We can't… After everything that has happened—"

"After everything that has happened, don't you think we both need this?" She shifted her hips slightly and a hiss left his lips.

"I want nothing more than to fuck you senseless," he muttered behind clenched teeth, "but not here. It isn't right, taking you in a prison cell."

"And why isn't it?" Her face fell finally and she got off his legs. "I know we said we can't go back, but…" She shook her head. "I'm sorry. I've— I just missed you. I had to see you again."

He let a smile slip. "I would have done the same, Love. Granted it would probably be too much for me to see you in shackles."

"You were so willing before."

"You were allowed in here before through Thor's kindness. You were allowed here to heal me. I'm surprised he let you in alone." He motioned for her to return to his lap and he hauled his shackles over her frame, keeping her in place. "You could be tried for treason by breaking in here."

"I used a key."

"You stole the key."

"Borrowed."

"Without permission, ergo stealing." Her scent sent his mind reeling. "You could be accused of trying to free me."

"I've been accused of enough since you've been gone. It would make no difference what the accusation would be now." Her gaze fell to his chest. "Someone let word slip in town I was carrying your child. Due to your actions, the whispers quickly spread. Whoever told the first gossiper never followed up when the pregnancy failed. The rumors are… colorful, to say the least."

He hadn't known anything of the rumors. He couldn't have, given his current accommodations. "What are they saying?"

"The most interesting one is that I sold the child to your daughter to bring you back to Asgard."

He frowned. "Hela?"

"Unless you have another daughter in control of the dead."

"No, she's the only one I know of." He cleared his throat and looked away from her. "You have to understand you were gone for… I wasn't sure if you were to—"

She cut him off, placing a finger to his lips. He fought the urge to nip at the pads of her fingers playfully. "If you have other offspring, I don't care. We didn't know we'd see each other again. On top of that, we were still only friends when we parted ways. True we had confessed our feelings, but we were still young. It could have been anything. Things happen."

He nodded and he closed his eyes as she trailed her fingers to his face. He instinctively pressed against it, feeling the cold of the silver band on her ring finger. It pleased him to know she still wore it. "Do you know who spread the rumors?"

She shook her head. "No. Thor does not know either. I eventually stopped going into town to avoid listening to the pathetic whispers. Some believed you coerced me into your bed."

He scoffed. "You had me in yours just as much, Love." He ran a hand up her thigh, under the open robe and her black nightdress. He immediately wanted more. "How long will the guards be out for?"

"Another hour and a half I believe. Markku is usually out all night when I do the spell on him, so for Asgardians I would assume two hours."

He arched a brow. "You've used your dog as a test subject?"

"He kicks and whines in his sleep. I had to. Why do you wish to know?" He grinned as her eyes widened while his hands rested on her ass, hiking up her nightdress in the process. She met his grin. "Naughty boy, I thought you didn't want to."

"I do, I just don't want you in trouble. However, if you will be out of here in time to replace the keys before the guards waken, you've given me a temptation I can't part with." He placed a kiss to her chest, above the swell of her breasts. "It's been a horrible year for both of us. As you said, we need it." He steadied himself against the floor of the cell and pushed his hips up into hers, hearing her gasp as his clothed cock pressed into her. He clenched his teeth against the wave of pleasure that took over his mind. "Let me see you. All of you."

He pulled his shackles back over her head to let her stand. His throat went dry as the robe fell in a heap on the floor, and the nightdress pooled around her feet not even a second later. He advanced on her, cursing the shackles as he tried to wrap his arms around her frame. Instead he led her to the cot and had her sit where he was a moment prior.

This was how he remembered her. It was what he loved most about her. How willing she always was to trust him with her body. He knelt before her and parted her legs, taking in her womanly scent mixed with the native flowers. He couldn't hold back and latched on to her lower lips, delving his tongue between her folds to lap up all of her sweet juices. He almost moaned against her skin as she mewled. He couldn't believe he had gone a year without her.

He felt her run her fingers through his hair as she had when they were together, and he took it as a sign to keep going. He chanced a glance up at her and saw her keeping herself quiet, a finger between her teeth. He mentally cursed and began unfastening the leathers around his waist. He couldn't wait any longer. He pulled away and shifted her body fully onto the cot before kneeling before her, wrapping her legs around his hips. In one quick thrust he was inside her for the first time in a year. They both let out a moan of satisfaction.

"I had nearly forgotten how good you felt." He almost didn't want to move.

"Can say the same for you," she said, almost breathless. Her smile faded and she cupped his face gently. "We don't have much time."

He nodded in understanding and started to move, biting back a groan of pleasure. He let her reach between them, around his shackles, so she could unfasten the rest of his leathers. He shivered at her touch and his hips gave a sharp jerk as she ran her fingers over his bared chest and torso. He slowed his pace, wanting to make the most of what they could spend together. It was then he had a realization. "What should I do when—"

"I think you know."

He laughed between clenched teeth. "My naughty little minx…" He leaned up on his arms, keeping his shackles over her head. He wasn't able to take her as he used to, but he was able to at least give her shallow and hard thrusts. She sighed against his throat, her expression showing unadulterated pleasure. She clenched around his harder self and he hissed, burrowing into her shoulder to press against her neck. "I'm so sorry for leaving you alone."

"Things happen. Don't- don't apologize." She lifted her hips for him, letting him slip in a bit deeper, making them both gasp. "We both went through more than we should have. What matters now is that we are here, alive, together."

He scoffed, still not stopping his pace. "Yes but if the guards were to change before you left…"

"If." She trailed her fingers over his neck, making him shiver again. "They won't change, we're together again, and, for another positive note, we're not parents." She looked thoughtful. "Well, I'm not."

He gave her a hard thrust of his hips. "Don't tempt me to change that statement." He resumed his gentle pace. "I'm not exactly father of the year, anyway."

"You also didn't give a damn about the mothers before."

"None of them were my friends first." He jerked slightly as her hands wandered under his jacket and down his still clothed back. "I can't keep going this slow…"

"Do what you have to." She leaned up and silenced them both with a scorching kiss as he picked up his pace. They pulled in heavy breaths through their noses, not daring to break their connection. Their expressions turned strained with pleasure and they both moaned and sighed against the other's skin.

"Call for me, Dyre," he said against her lips.

"Loki!"

"Again."

A wave of an orgasm washed over her, catching her voice in her throat for a moment. Even through her climax he was relentless. "Loki!"

He clenched his jaws together as he felt her climax around him again. "Once more, Love. Who do you belong to? Who do you still love?"

"You, Loki! It's always been you!"

He went lightheaded as his climax hit a breaking point. "I'm at my limit, Dyre."

She knew what he meant. As soon as he pulled out she got to her knees, pulling as much as she could of him into her mouth. He wound his fingers through her hair and moved her how he wanted, letting her use her hands to help. Within moments he released down her throat with a guttural moan, amazed that they had both lasted so long.

Once sure the last drop was spent he pulled back, fascinated with the fact she had allowed him to do that. "I apologize for not being better prepared."

She shocked him again by licking her lips. "That would be my fault, dear."

He chuckled and stood, adjusting his leathers. He froze in place as the chime of metal hitting concrete sounded.

He saw her frown and bend down to pick up the circle of silver crowned by an ornate diamond. "What is this?"

"Must've fallen in my clothes during New York." He took in her scrutinizing gaze and cast his eyes away, his lips pressed in a thin smile. He let out a breath of a chuckle as she still examined it. "You know I'm lying."

"Of course. I've gotten very good at recognizing your tells." She took his hand and pressed the ring to his palm. "For now, I say we wait and see what happens."

He laughed again. "That was the plan, before you threw a wrench in my ideas." His smile fell, as did hers. "The guards may wake soon before you can get back to the hall safely."

"I know."

He watched her dress in silence, mulling over what had just happened. As she tied her robe back together, he broke the quiet. "Did you mean it? When you said it was always me?"

She gave him a sly smile as she pulled her black locks from the robe. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"I would, actually."

"You have your secrets, I have mine." She picked up the keys, gripping them tightly. "I don't know when I'll see you again."

"Soon, I'd imagine." He stepped forward, shackles clanking as they tapped against his legs. "As much as I don't regret what we did, you can't come back here. Not like this."

She cast her gaze away. "I know."

He made her look at him again. "However, I may need a certain alchemist to bring me a sleeping draught. I have been through hell the past year. Restful sleep is a rarity these days." It wasn't a lie. He knew he probably still looked like he was hit with a truck, though this time just in his eyes. He couldn't remember the last time he was able to sleep without being painfully woken.

"I'll clear a place in my schedule with my long list of patients." She rolled her eyes but stepped into him, and he allowed the action. He raised the shackles over her head so he could hold her close for just a moment. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too." He regretfully pulled back. "You have to leave."

She nodded and wiped at her eyes where a tear fell from her restraint. She ducked out from his shackles and retreated to the door. With a last look over her shoulder she unlocked the cell door and left.

He ran a hand through his hair and sat back down on the cot, still waiting for his heart to calm itself. He stared at the ring, studying every curve the diamond's setting made. He shook his head and stuffed it back into his jacket. Without another word he laid back on the cot, attempting what he could of sleep.


End file.
